The Constitution and the Coronavirus

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2020

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jeffrey Rosen is joined by public health law experts Polly Price of Emory University School of Law and Ed Richards of Louisiana State University Law Center to discuss key questions about the coronavirus and the Constitution. Starting with the history of quarantines prior to and during the Founding era, they explain how the government combatted diseases when, as Ed puts it, “The colonies were basically fever-ridden swamps.” Drawing examples from public health responses to outbreaks of yellow fever and the 1918 influenza pandemic through the AIDS epidemic and SARS, they also answer questions including: What restrictions can government authorities enact under the Constitution during a pandemic—from quarantines to isolation measures, to shutting down private businesses? How do the powers of state and federal governments interact during emergency scenarios? Would it be constitutional for the government to impose the kind of lockdown that has occurred in China or Italy, and, if so, would the Supreme Court intervene? And what might happen next? Questions or comments about the podcast? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome
0:07.9	to We The People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:11.5	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit
0:15.0	chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the
0:19.1	Constitution among the American people. On this episode, we explore the Constitution and the coronavirus.
0:28.0	Dear We the People Friends, as so many of us are working at home and confronting the reality of our new crisis.
0:36.0	Today is the time to learn what limits, if any,
0:39.0	does the Constitution impose on the power of local, state, and federal officials to meet the crisis from
0:46.6	quarantines to other limitations on public assembly.
0:52.4	To delve into these questions and to understand the history and constitutional law of the response of the government to public health crises,
1:01.0	I'm joined by two of America's leading experts on
1:03.4	public health law and the Constitution. Polly Price is Asak Griggs Chandler
1:07.6	professor of law and professor of global health in the Rollins School of Public
1:10.8	Health at Emory University. She's a public health expert, legal historian,
1:14.7	and citizenship and immigration law expert
1:16.7	who's published widely on these topics.
1:19.1	Her fellowship at the Andrew Carnegie Foundation
1:22.1	supported her forthcoming book,
1:24.0	Plagues in the nation, which examines the way epidemics have shaped US law
1:28.0	and continue to pose challenges for disease control in democratic societies.
1:32.0	Polly, thank you so much for joining. for Disease Control in Democratic Societies.
1:32.6	Polly, thank you so much for joining.
	...

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