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"He needs to declare victory over the flattened curve and allow this country to deal with the consequences." He doesn't have the authority. Federal law is supreme over state law in our system. And so, if there is an otherwise-constitutional federal law compelling an outcome that runs contrary to a state or local rule, the federal law prevails. But it does not follow that President Trump can therefore override state and local rules on matters like shelter-in-place. First, no currently existing statute plausibly can be read to confer such an authority on the president. The Stafford Act, the Defense Production Act, the Public Health Service Act, and the various statutes triggered by a declaration under the National Emergencies Act—none of these come close to authorizing something like this. Second, there is little chance that this Congress is going to pass a statute that even purports to confer authority on the president to override state and local rules. I do not see the House cooperating in such an effort. Third, the president cannot plausibly claim inherent Article II authority to accomplish an override. Recall that President Truman, in the midst of the Korean War and facing the prospect of a strike in the steel industry that might disrupt the flow of arms and ammunition, asserted emergency Article II authority in order to temporarily nationalize the steel industry. The Supreme Court famously struck down that action as an unconstitutional usurpation of the authority of Congress, notwithstanding the exigency, in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer. He has no say in the actions of the governors or mayors in their decisions in this matter. He never ordered the shelter in place action and he can't reverse. Washington does have the power to quarantine people or take other measures to block the spread of communicable disease from other nations or between the states. Authority to enforce such actions comes from Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act of 1944, according to CRS. But there is one law that can allow the federal government to step in' TITLE 42 U.S. Code § 264. Regulations to control communicable diseases. But in that are hoops to jump through. The Surgeon General, with the approval of the Secretary, is authorized to make and enforce such regulations as in his judgment are necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the States or possessions, or from one State or possession into any other State or possession. Regulations prescribed under this section shall not provide for the apprehension, detention, or conditional release of individuals except for the purpose of preventing the introduction, transmission, or spread of such communicable diseases. Except as provided in subsection (d), regulations prescribed under this section, insofar as they provide for the apprehension, detention, examination, or conditional release of individuals, shall be applicable only to individuals coming into a State or possession from a foreign country or a possession. So an individual in his/her home state, unless they are traveling to another state or posserssion, that may have the virus, can be stopped from entering another sgater or possession if determined ill. But not to walk around in their own state or possession. That falls to state's rights. Apologize for the single paragraph. I didn't type it that way, it just ended up that way and I can't find a way to change it. rwood

"I didn't type it that way, it just ended up that way and I can't find a way to change it"

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