"The President's powers are not 'total,' " Susan Low Bloch, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown Law School, said in an email. "Our government is a government of divided powers. We call it 'separation of powers' with 'checks and balances.' "
The president has the powers articulated in Article II of the Constitution, she says. "But the Congress, the judiciary, and the states also have powers — as articulated in the rest of the Constitution (particularly in Article I, Article III, and the 10th Amendment respectively). The President is not a king. His powers are broad, but they are definitely not 'total.' "
"It's so plain and obvious it's not even debatable," added Kathleen Bergin, a professor at Cornell Law School.
"Trump has no authority to ease social distancing, or to open schools or private businesses," she said. "These are matters for states to decide under their power to promote public health and welfare, a power guaranteed by the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. Despite what he claims, no president has absolute authority over domestic policy, and he certainly has no power to override the type of measures that have been taken across the country that have proved successful in flattening the curve."
