Secretary of Health and Human Services has the power to take measures to contain communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and between states. Under section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, the U.S. To be sure, the federal government has important quarantine powers. The Research Service also noted that one trend in common today among the states is the “antiquity” of their quarantine laws, with many statutes between 40 and 100 years old. Marshall wrote that quarantine laws “form a portion of that immense mass of legislation which embraces everything within the territory of a State not surrendered to the General Government.” Those police powers include the ability to impose isolation and quarantine conditions. Marshall’s reasoning set the precedent that police powers are reserved to states for activities within their borders (with some exceptions). Ogdendrew a clear line between the federal government and the state governments when it came to regulating activities within and between states. In 1824, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall’s opinion in Gibbons v. In general, the Research Service said the power to take quarantine measures is reserved to the states under the 10th Amendment.
In 2014, the Congressional Research Service wrote about quarantines and the federal Constitution when there were concerns about the Ebola virus. Quarantine separates and also restricts the movement of people exposed to a contagious disease, but not yet ill, to see if they become sick. Isolation separates people known to be ill from those who people who are not sick, says the CDC. The difference between an isolation and quarantine situation is important.
But in some cases, federal and state officials have overlapping roles. Tom Wolf on Thursday closed down public schools in Montgomery County, a Philadelphia suburb.īut what happens if the federal officials or a state government needs to get directly involved in a situation where large population groups need to be isolated? Or what rights do individuals retain in border-entry situations?Īccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (or CDC), state governments, and not the federal government, have most of the power to place people in isolation or quarantine under certain circumstances. Andrew Cuomo has established a “containment area,” while Pennsylvania Gov. In Santa Clara, Calif., and San Francisco, officials have banned large gatherings. So far, people exposed to the COVID-19 virus have agreed to “self-quarantine,” or voluntarily remain in isolation in consultation with medical authorities. So what does that mean in constitutional terms? The growing concerns about the coronavirus in the United States could lead to government officials considering isolation and quarantine as possible measures to contain the virus.
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