Thread by @CevallosLaw

1] What are the individual's rights vs. the government's power to quarantine? THREAD (long)
@MSNBC @NBCNews @NBCHealthNews

2] The federal government possesses the power to declare and enforce a quarantine, based on its constitutional commerce clause power, mainly b/c it involves preventive measures at the border.
@AliVelshi @AlisonMorrisNOW @ericafink

3] The Public Health Service Act allows @Surgeon_General, w/ approval of @HHSGov, to make & enforce regulations necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the states or between states.

4] Authority has been delegated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (@CDCgov), which is authorized to detain, medically examine, and release persons arriving into the US and traveling between states who are suspected of carrying communicable diseases.

5] Federal quarantine orders have been rare. The states have considerable power here. Since 1799, federal legislation has mandated federal non-interference and cooperation with the states' execution of their quarantine laws.
@Morning_Joe

6] In modern times, CDC has mostly played a supportive role, with the States taking the lead in quarantine matters. State law will often permit the State to quarantine those within its borders.
@rebeccacheng6 @VinDeitch @NBCNightlyNews

7] Since 1905, the US Supreme Court has approved of these exercises of the states' general police powers to protect public health through quarantines and other measures. Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11, 25, 25 S.Ct. 358 (1905). @NBC10Boston

8] In Jacobson, Supreme Court upheld Massachusetts law requiring vaccination vs. smallpox. It held that such a measure will not be struck down unless it "has no real or substantial relation to [that goal], or is...a plain, palpable invasion of rights" secured by the Constitution.

9] A US citizen arriving at US port on a vessel in which, during the voyage, there had been cases of, e.g., coronavirus, even though apparently disease-free, may be held in quarantine against his will on board the vessel until danger has passed. Jacobson, at 29. @NBC10Boston

10] The quarantine power has even been used in cases of venereal disease! One case in 1973 authorized detention in jail w/o bond to examine and treat someone suspected of having the disease in Colorado. Reynolds v. McNichols, 488 F.2d 1378 (10th Cir.1973).
@9NEWS @KOAA

11] Courts have sometimes struck down quarantine orders as arbitrary and unreasonable in relation to their goal of protecting the public health...like, shutting down an entire section of San Francisco??? Yep, in 1900.
@nbcbayarea

12] In Jew Ho v. Williamson, 103 F. 10 (C.D. Cal. 1900), the court found that sealing off an entire section of SF to prevent spread of bubonic plague was "unreasonable, unjust, and oppressive." Id. at 26.
@nbcbayarea

13] In short, the law authorizes preventive detention of a person exposed to others who suffer from a contagious, dangerous disease. Ultimately, the length of detention is a judgment call, based on expertise; there is no bright-line statutory or constitutional rule.
@NBCNewsNow