How Does Federalism Work?

            The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is federalism, the type of government found in the United States, Canada, and several other nations. A federal government system consists of a division of powers and the co-governing of two governments. The first government is the central – or federal -- government, and the second one is state government. 

The central government regulates what happens in all the states in the nation. It provides the monetary system for the nation to avoid the problems that would be caused by every state having different money. It also provides military to protect the nation from enemies from outside. The federal government determines the day for national elections – the first Tuesday in November. It provides the federal court system, while the states provide for their state courts. The powers of the central government are limited to what the Constitution says that it can do. 

There was a recent discussion about whether President Donald Trump or the governors of the states had authority to lift the restrictions put in place by the states to control the coronavirus. Trump declared that “When somebody’s president of the United States, the authority is total,” but he received immediate pushback from both Democrats and Republicans with the Tenth Amendment being quoted as evidence. This amendment states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” 

In an interview with The Daily Signal, John Malcolm was asked about the President’s statement. “I think that the president is wrong in what he had to say, with only one limited exception.” He then gave the following explanation.

The limited exception is that if he wanted to order federal employees and military personnel to go back to work, the governors could not stop that from happening. State officials cannot, under the Constitution, stop federal officials from executing federal policy. But that is the only exception.

Our Constitution sets up a federal government of limited and enumerated powers. And the only time in which a president could exercise that sort of extraordinary power would be if our nation faced an imminent attack from a foreign nation, or if thee was an outright rebellion, an insurrection going on in the states, and the states were fundamentally incapable of enforcing their own laws.

            Malcolm continued by stating that the president and the federal government had power to control who enters our country if they have the coronavirus. They control interstate travel and can stop people from entering or leaving states if they have the coronavirus. They control the movement of goods and commerce between states. However, “it is the states government officials, usually governors, who exercise [what is] known as residual police power to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the inhabitants of those states … to issue their stay-in-place orders, [to close down] nonessential businesses, [to prevent] large gatherings, and the like.”

The fact is that the President does not have the authority to lock down the nation or to lift the restrictions declared by the various governors. This authority belongs to the state and/or local governments. Trump obviously understood his limitations by the next day. He introduced the instructions for ushering in the three phases of easing restrictions and reopening businesses, and then he conceded that the governors have the authority to take the action. “You’re going to call your own shots. You’re going to be running it, we’re going to be helping you.”

The various governors use their authority to act in different ways. The governors of Alaska and Hawaii shut down their states soon after the coronavirus was known to be in America. Other states waited to issue stay-at-home orders. Still other states, such as South Dakota, never issued any stay-at-home orders at all. Some governors issued mandates, and others strongly urged their residents to hunker down at home. However, some governors proved the truthfulness of this scripture:

We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men [and women], as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion (Doctrine and Covenants 121-39).

            New York City was hit hard by COVID-19, and Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to keep schools closed until next fall. Governor Andrew Cuomo says that de Blasio does not have that authority. The answer is in what the state laws say. Cuomo issued an executive order that requires everyone to wear a face mask. Does he have authority to impinge on the people’s freedom? He probably has as much authority to tell them to wear a face mask as he does to tell them to shelter in place. If only Jews or only Blacks or only Whites were ordered to wear face masks or to stay home, the order would be unconstitutional.


            Residents of Michigan are rebelling against the orders given by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. She told the people in her state to stay at home and banned travel between residences – whether it was a vacation home owned by the person or the home of a neighbor. She probably has authority to make that order, but the residents of her state have the right to vote her out of office at the next election. It may or may not have been a smart move on her part. I believe that this governor was abusing her authority.


            The governor of Mississippi ruled that residents in that state could not attend Easter services even though they stayed in their cars with the windows rolled up and listened on their radios. He sent troopers to give the people $500 tickets for attending, and his authority is being challenged in court. This governor was most likely going too far because his orders infringed upon freedom of worship guaranteed by the First Amendment. The governor could institute social distancing rules and mandate no meetings for all residents, but he could not shut down churches totally if the people were obeying the rules. The only way that the governor could get away with this order is if he shut down all drive-in businesses as well as the churches. The fact that churches were singled out makes this action unconstitutional.


            The coronavirus pandemic threw the whole country into confusion. We do not know why Trump argued that he had total authority. He may have been confused, or he may have pulled a fast one on the media. They had been pushing him to lock down the whole country, but he used the Constitution as his reason for not doing it. Now he was saying that he had authority to lift the states’ restrictions, and the media argued that he did not have the authority. The media could not have it both way: They could not insist that he lock the nation down if they did not give him the authority to lift the restrictions. We never know why Trump says or does what he says and does, but we do know that the media always ends up looking like fools.