effect, while Parliament retains the right to submit emergency decrees to the Constitutional Council, which has the power to invalidate them if the conditions necessary for the article's invocation no longer exist. Interpretation The text of the Article 48 neither precisely defined the kind of emergency that would justify its use nor expressly granted to the President the power to enact, issue, or otherwise promulgate legislation. However, such an inherent Presidential legislative power was clearly implied, as the Article expressly gave the Reichstag the power to cancel the emergency decree by a simple majority vote. That parliamentary power implied that a decree could, either by its express terms or its operation, impinge on the Reichstag's constitutional function. Article 48 required the President to inform the Reichstag immediately of the issuance of the emergency decree and gave the Reichstag the power to nullify the emergency decree by simple majority action. The Reichsrat, the upper house, was not involved in the process at all. If the Reichstag nullified the decree, the President could retaliate by using the power, under Article 25, to dissolve the Reichstag and call for new elections within 60 days. See also Machtergreifung State of emergency State of exception References 1919 in law Emergency laws in Germany Constitutional history of Germany 1933 in Germany Politics of the Weimar Republic