"In his Aug. 25 executive order, Trump called for the federal government to withhold grants and contract funds to jurisdictions that have "substantially eliminated" cash bail for charged crimes "that pose a clear threat to public safety and order, including offenses involving violent, sexual, or indecent acts, or burglary, looting or vandalism." In a second Aug. 25 order, Trump called for "appropriate actions," including funding decisions, to press Washington, D.C., to change its policies on cashless bail."
"Trump's plan to withhold funds "is simultaneously an attack on federalism and an attempt to usurp Congress' spending power," wrote Ilya Somin, a professor at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, at the Volokh Conspiracy. "Supreme Court precedent-most of it authored by conservative justices-holds that only Congress can impose conditions on state and local governments receiving federal grants, and those conditions must be clearly stated in the statutes allocating the funds.""
""In addition," he wrote, "this is an attempt to insert the federal government in a core traditional area of state and local authority. Few powers are more central to state and local autonomy than control over state criminal law enforcement.""
President Trump issued Aug. 25 executive orders directing the federal government to withhold grants and contract funds from jurisdictions that have substantially eliminated cash bail for accused offenses deemed threats to public safety, and to press Washington, D.C., to change its cashless-bail policies. Legal critics say the actions improperly condition federal funds, attack federalism, and exceed Congress' spending power by imposing requirements without statutory authorization. Supreme Court precedent requires that grant conditions be clearly indicated by Congress, relate to the grant's purpose, and not be coercive. Washington, D.C.'s 1992 elimination of cash bail served as a roadmap for later reforms.
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