Legal experts dismantle Trump’s claim that he alone has the authority to ‘open’ the country

This Monday, President Trump raised a few eyebrows with a tweet claiming that he alone has the power to decide when the economy reopens, lamenting that "the Fake News Media are saying that it is the Governors decision to open up the states, not that of the President of the United States & the Federal Government."

According to Trump, that is "incorrect."

"It is the decision of the President, and for many good reasons," he wrote. 'With that being said, the Administration and I are working closely with the Governors, and this will continue. A decision by me, in conjunction with the Governors and input from others, will be made shortly!"

As CNN's Elie Honig points out, Trump is overstating his power as president.

"For example, every state governor has the authority to issue quarantine or stay-home orders, and to revise or revoke those orders," Honig writes. "The president does not have the legal authority, however, to undo a state-level quarantine order. The president also holds little if any power over matters of local government. He cannot, for example, decide when to reopen local public schools or parks. This could come to a head if the President attempts to 'reopen' the country, contrary to existing state-level quarantine orders. In that scenario, the state quarantine order prevails; the president simply has no legal mechanism empowering him to overrule a state governor and to lift a state-level stay-home order."

Law professor Steve Vladeck agrees, pointing out that Trump's claim is "just false."

"The President has no formal legal authority to categorically override local or state shelter-in-place orders or to reopen schools and small businesses," Vladeck tweeted. "No statute delegates to him such power; no constitutional provision invests him with such authority."