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Sen. Rand Paul: Constitution Doesn’t Give Trump ‘Total’ Authority

The Republican senator said the law doesn’t authorize the federal government to “become the ultimate regulator of our lives because they wave a doctor’s note.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) took an unsubtle shot at the president on Tuesday, pushing back on Trump’s claim of having “total” authority over states when it comes to reopening the economy post-coronavirus. In a tweet, Paul said that the U.S. Constitution does not allow the federal government “to become the ultimate regulator of our lives because they wave a doctor’s note.” “Powers not delegated are RESERVED to states & the PEOPLE. If we dispense with constitutional restraints, we will have more to worry about than a virus,” he wrote. President Trump is facing backlash for asserting during a coronavirus press briefing on Monday that “when somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total and that is the way it’s gonna be,” which has been proven to be unfounded in the Constitution. Trump has pushed back on governors who asserted that they would decide for themselves when it was safe to reopen their states.