Pandemic power play between Trump and states

A power struggle is brewing between President Donald Trump and state governors over who has the final say in reopening parts of US economy devisted by the coronavirus pandemic.

During a White House press conference on Monday, President Trump claimed to have "total" authority for certain state decision like rescinding stay at home orders.

"You have a couple of bands of Democrat governors but they will agree to it. They will agree to it," Trump said to reporters. "The authority of the president of the United States having to do with the subject we're talking about is total."

Trump would not offer specifics about the source of his asserted power, which he claimed, despite constitutional limitations, was absolute.

William Howell, the chair of the political science department at the University of Chicago, said the claim contradicts Trump's approach to taking responsibility for the response to the public health crisis.

"You see this contrast between on the one hand claiming absolute and unfettered authority. On the other hand saying it's not all my fault, it's other people's fault," Howell said. "It also stands in market contrast to our system of separated powers, wherein power is always contested. Power is always partially held, not just by the president but by everybody. Nobody has complete say over the doings of government."

The US constitution gives public health and safety responsibilities primarily to state and local officials.

During a national emergency a US president also has more authority, but Howell said it is not clear what the boundaries of that authority are.

"This works on a couple of different dimensions. One simply has to do with who has final authority over rendering a decision about whether or not... a stay at home order will persist and how an economy will open back up?" Howell said. "There is a fight over that. It's a legal fight, and to be sure governors have a whole lot of authority in this space."

The US has faced other governance challenges during times of war, but Howell said the coronavirus pandemic is unprecedented in it's scope and demands that every governor, legislator and the president come together and find harmonious solutions.

"We have a disease, a pandemic that is coursing through the entire country that requires local responses, that is hard to detect, that requires the cooperation of people running all the way through our government and individuals in their own private lives abiding by orders that are extremely difficult to enforce," Howell said.

Coalitions of governors have formed on the West Coast and in the Northeast, and the groups are set to release detailed plans for lifting virus restrictions on Tuesday April 13.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his coalition, which includes Oregon and Washington state, is using science evidence, not political pressure to guide their decisions.