To: Brumar89 who wrote (1221440 ) 4/17/2020 8:57:14 AM From: RetiredNow 1 RecommendationRecommended By
Read Replies (1) | Respond to OK. Let's tackle that head on. I personally think Trump is contradicting himself. I applauded him when he said he did NOT want to issue a nationwide lockdown directive, because frankly that's not up to him. The Exec Branch does not have that power under our Constitution. It is well documented that the liberals wanted him to do that and that absolutely would have been dictatorial, but he didn't and he said he didn't do it, because of states rights and that it was up to the governors to apply their discretion, while up to Trump to apply guidelines and advisories. Well done. But I am a strong believer in states' rights as outlined in the 10th amendment to the Constitution. Basically, here's a good summary of states rights versus federal rights under the Constitution: In establishing American government’s power-sharing system of federalism, the Bill of Rights' 10th Amendment holds that all rights and powers not specifically reserved to Congress by Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution or to be shared concurrently by the federal and state governments are reserved by either the states or by the people.In order to prevent the states from claiming too much power, the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2) holds that all laws enacted by the state governments must comply with the Constitution, and that whenever a law enacted by a state conflicts with a federal law, the federal law must be applied. So when Trump reversed and contradicted himself by saying he has the absolute authority to re-open the economy, that made me uncomfortable. No he doesn't. He does NOT have absolute authority. However, he does have considerable power to influence the outcome. He can issue advisories and guidelines. He can work with Congress to pass federal laws to unify the economic policies and compel states to act according to federal law, which is consistent with the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution. He can give orders to the CDC and other regulatory bodies on their guidelines, which states listen to and coordinate with. So he does have power, just not the "absolute authority", which he claimed. His choice of words was poor, but that's a common malady with Trump.Pandemic Federalism Trump’s Backwards Federalism Could Actually Work
