In March, President Trump relied on a little-used public health rule to drastically restrict immigration at the United States’ land borders. President Trump determined that, because COVID-19 was present in Mexico and Canada, there was a serious danger that migrants might further introduce coronavirus into the United States. Although it applies to both borders […]
Governmental Powers
Stay-at-Home Orders and Religious Freedom: How Courts Balance the Free Exercise Clause and State Emergency Powers
In the wake of the initial impact of COVID-19, state governments rushed to respond to breakouts. The resulting executive orders led to widespread shutdowns that attempted to balance the reduction of contact between people and the institutions needed to sustain the population . While at first many accepted the necessary shutdowns, it didn’t take long […]
The Constitutionality of Technology-Assisted Contact Tracing
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an impossible set of choices for governments, forcing them to weigh the competing interests of protecting public health, ending social isolation, and safeguarding privacy and civil rights. Each of these ends offer distinct societal benefits, but without a vaccine or effective COVID treatment, governments can only accomplish two of the […]
Police Should Not Be Enforcing Emergency Public Health Orders
On a weekend when police officers were handing masks to white residents in parks around New York City, NYPD Officer Francisco Garcia forced Donni Wright, a 33-year-old Black man, to the ground and knelt on his neck. Officer Garcia was one of 1,000 NYPD officers dispatched to enforce social distancing and mask-wearing. He had been […]
Travel Restrictions During Coronavirus
Why is traveling during COVID-19 a problem? Whether by airplane, bus, train, or car, traveling increases a person’s chances of contracting and spreading COVID-19. Travelling inevitably puts people in close contact, often for prolonged periods of time, and exposes them to more and different pathogens. Imagine three different situations. First, a woman takes the train […]