Lawmakers Tell Trump He Does Not Have ‘Total’ Authority
Evan Vucci/AP
We ran the numbers: There are 1667 news articles covering this topic. 36% (594) are left leaning, 44% (736) center, 20% (337) right leaning.
While President Trump asserted at a briefing Monday night that his authority is “total” and that he has the power to order states to reopen, legal experts say Trump’s assertion is without merit or grounding in the Constitution. Left-leaning articles highlight that the legal emptiness of Trump’s claim is consistent with his handling of the pandemic, right-leaning articles highlight that even Republican governors questioned Trump’s assertion.
The New York Times highlights that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo of New York rebutted Trump’s claim by citing a line from Alexander Hamilton, observing that presidential encroachment on powers that the Constitution reserved to the states would be “repugnant to every rule of political calculation.” The article notes that the legal emptiness of Trump’s assertion fits with a larger pattern in his handling of the pandemic, as he often talks “as if he has a big stick but with little to back it up.”
A centrist article by NPR reports that the president only has powers articulated in Article II of the Constitution, and that the authority to ease social distancing, or to open schools or private businesses are matters for states to decide, as guaranteed by the 10th Amendment. Bradley Moss, a Washington attorney who specializes in national security law, said that the Constitution delegates most public health authorities to the states, not the federal government.
A right-leaning article by The New York Post highlights that even Florida GOP Senator Marco Rubio, normally a reliable Trump supporter, questioned Trump’s assertion in a tweet. A right-leaning article by The Washington Examiner reports that Cuomo argued that governors should refrain from tuning into White House press briefings on the coronavirus pandemic.
From the left
Trump’s claim of total authority in crisis is rejected across ideological lines
New York Times