How This Pandemic Proves the Wisdom of the Founders
One more time, with feeling: The federal government does not have ‘absolute power.’
Timothy Sandefur
President Trump raised eyebrows Tuesday when, in answer to a question about whether he could order the revocation of state “lockdowns,†he declared that “the federal government has absolute power.†In reality, no part of the federal government has “absolute†power—or “plenary†power, as Vice President Pence asserted at the same press conference—at any time, even during emergencies. The reason our state and federal constitutions were written was to make that point clear. Instead, our federalist system puts states in the driver’s seat at times like this—and wisely so.
The Constitution’s authors were familiar with epidemics; they were a regular fact of life in the 1780s. And the authorities primarily responsible for taking action back then were state governments, which are closer to the people, more knowledgeable about local conditions, and better able to compare the costs and benefits of their actions. The Constitution they wrote incorporated the preexisting practice of state autonomy on such matters, giving federal officials power over things like matters of foreign relations, but leaving power over public health primarily with the states.
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