A pandemic power of the presidency
The Framers never envisioned presidents as lordly law shapers or war declarers
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A president has once again claimed sweeping authority. “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total,” Donald Trump asserted this month. He was likely claiming constitutional power to handle pandemics. But was he correct? Does the presidency enjoy the authority to forcibly vaccinate the healthy or quarantine the sick? If we polled legal scholars today, I can guarantee that all would criticize his claim. However, almost all legal scholars would admit that the presidency could eventually acquire a pandemic power, and therein lies the rub in the answer.
The presidency today is like a Swiss Army knife in that it does everything. Indeed, presidents start wars, backed by the most lethal armed forces in history. Under the guise of interpreting the Constitution and federal laws, presidents twist both to advance their policies. Some laws are stretched or minimized beyond all recognition, while some other laws are declared unconstitutional, by artfully deploying obscure legal arguments.
