Assignment task:
In 2020, the American response to the spread of a novel coronavirus and the disease it caused, COVID-19, was highly decentralized in comparison to efforts in many other developed countries. While President Trump held daily press conferences to discuss federal policies and information about the virus, state governors did the same. The governors often went further than the president, however, in issuing stay-at-home orders to residents, banning travel, and declaring certain businesses deemed nonessential to limit services or close. Why were state governors able to respond in such a direct and immediate fashion? Congress had not had time to develop any coercive grant-in-aid program in connection with this public health crisis. States' reserved powers include coercion (or police power), something that gives them the ability to administer health and safety rules. The federal government's hands were tied under rules of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. The federal response was limited by Supreme Court rulings that frowned upon "commandeering" the states to enforce congressional law.