For the entirety of my lifetime, the 1st, 2nd, 4th Amendments* have gotten somewhere around 95% of the total air time of anyone discussing the Constitutional Amendments in any context. The other five percent is given over to the taxation is theft crowd, celebrating the repeal of prohibition, and everything else. The last three years, something of a historical outlier, have also included not insignificant discussions of the 25th Amendment as well.
After listening to President Trump’s claim that “When somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total,” it appears that we’re going to spend some amount of time in the near future pondering the Tenth Amendment.
The president is right that we do need to develop a plan for putting the country back to work. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to start opening up the economy. Great Plague or not, there’s a limit to how long people are going to tolerate sitting home, watching their livelihoods crumble, and seeing no obvious end in sight. Beyond the statement of fact that the economy needs to be opened, his argument that it’s a decision to be made by the federal executive branch alone is, in a word, wrong. Other words that could have been used here are: asinine, nonsense, bunk, hokum, or bullshit.
Just as the timing and decision to curtail all but essential business was made by state governors across the country, the governors will also establish the timing and criteria by which business is allowed to reopen. It may be done in conjunction with advice from the federal government, it may be backed up with federal resources, but the decision on timing and “how to” resides with the governors.
Given the 10th Amendment’s reservation of powers not delegated to the federal government to the states, there simply isn’t a lawful mechanism by which the president may issue a blanket decree that state and local government, businesses, and educational institutions are open for business. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Anyone who insists that the president does, in fact, have this authority, is attempting to empower the executive branch far beyond anything envisioned under the Constitution – and deserves the scorn and derision of those who have grown and prospered under that protection of that great charter.
Constitutional Amendments Quick Reference Guide:
- 1st Amendment – Freedom of speech, religion, and the press
- 2nd Amendment – Right to keep and bear arms
- 4th Amendment – Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure
- 10th Amendment – Reserves powers not granted to the Federal government to the states or the people
- 16th Amendment – Allows Congress to levy a national income tax
- 21st Amendment – Repeals prohibition
- 25th Amendment – Clarifies the rules of presidential succession
JEFFREYTHARP.COM 
Did the govs shut down their states? Yes. Did POTUS? No. Will the govs reopen their states? Yes. Will POTUS? No. However —- can you see the backlash if the middle of the country opens, and goes to work, while the West Coast and Northeast do not? They are already on the gov’s lawn in Ohio.
Opening things back up will require application of logic about what happens when… I’m confident the great mass of people will display as little basic common sense through this process as possible.