Judge Napolitano: Would Be “Horrific” If Trump Held Up Funds To Schools

On Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla, Senior Judicial Analyst Judge ANdrew Napolitano discussed whether President Trump should use the threat of withholding federal funds to schools districts that do not reopen in the fall.

“He said this morning he would hold up some federal funds, which of course would be horrific if he did that, but that’s his mechanism of not punishing the students but coercing the administrators. Some funds are discretionary. That is up to the Secretary of Education or basically works for the President. Some funds are not discretionary. Most of the funds for the current school year have already been delivered. So his threat to hold up would be to hold up funds in the future. Beyond that, he has a bully pulpit. He can preach and he can coerce, but he has no legal authority to open or to close the schools. We’re not talking about West Point, which the federal government owns. We’re talking about your typical government, aka, public school that educates most of the children in the United States. They are owned either by the municipality in which they’re located or the state in which the municipality is located. They’re not owned or operated or regulated by the federal government.”