Sky News: Virus Pandemic Lockdown

April 14, 2020

O’Melveny partner Steve Bunnell was interviewed by British television network Sky News in a segment discussing the limits of US presidential authority during emergencies, specifically as it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The President does not have default emergency powers under the US Constitution,” said Bunnell. “Congress can delegate specific emergency powers, and they have on occasion done that. We have things like the Defense Production Act and the Stafford Act, but there is no law that gives the President the power to preempt state public health laws.”