An executive order by President Donald Trump targets cashless bail policies and threatens to revoke federal funding for jurisdictions that eliminate cash bail. Jurisdictions cited include D.C., New Mexico, New Jersey, and Illinois, where cash bail has been abolished or nearly abolished. The order directs the Attorney General to identify jurisdictions employing cashless bail for potential funding revocation. Legal questions focus on whether the president can unilaterally cut funds over state procedural criminal rules, since Congress enacts laws and sets funding conditions. Federal-state division of authority and state supremacy in criminal enforcement are central to the legal debate.
Fox News' Andy McCarthy pooh-poohed an executive order signed by President Donald Trump targeting cashless bail policies on Monday during an appearance on The Story with Martha MacCallum later that afternoon. Guest host Gillian Turner kicked off the segment by observing that Trump's new executive order signed today threatens to revoke federal funds to any jurisdiction in the United States that continues to employ no cash bail.
I don't think he's going to get very far with it legally, because it's Congress that actually ends up making the laws, including for the District of Columbia. And it's Congress that sets the terms for funding to the states, replied McCarthy. So unless they've given the president a license, or an avenue to cut off the funding on account of state procedural criminal rules, he'll probably have a tough time in court with that.
If you're talking about foreign affairs, the president has very broad power. If you're taking about domestic affairs, there's a division of authority between the federal government and the state government. When you're talking about the enforcement of law, when the Constitution was adopted originally, the thought was that most, if not all law enforcement was going to be done at the state level.
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