Some of my FB friends have asked me to write something about the spate of government orders about social distancing, closures of state parks and beaches, constitutional rights to congregate and associate in public, requiring masks when in stores, and mandatory testing (which I will deal with another time). A few of these issues are simple, but most are not. Whatever else, this pandemic has certainly provided a real-time lesson on federalism, the essence of which is a shared/sometimes overlapping…

Read More Read More

The short of it is that you don’t. For at least the last few hundred years, the law has recognized the government’s responsibility to protect the public health via its police powers. That job primarily falls to the states under the 10th Amendment, which provides that all powers not expressly granted to the federal government resides in the states. There are many cases where state and the federal government have been allowed to lock-up people considered dangerous to the health,…

Read More Read More

People want to know how much can the government really restrict their movements. Can the government really stop healthy people from congregating? I think the short answer to both is yes, at least in the short term, and at least until some court says otherwise, and for reasons I will discuss, I do not see a court overturning a government shelter-in-place order anytime soon. (Ok, maybe that wasn’t such a short answer.) There are both federal and state law issues…

Read More Read More

I received the following email, and I thought it was worth responding to in a post. “I hope you and yours are well and staying safe from the viral insanity. I wonder if you have any advice on being prepared for overreach and medical mandates in times like these? I like to have at least a flexible plan. I just finished reading Suzanne Somers’ “Knockout”, and watching Real Stories’ coverage on Stanislaw Burzynski… my cousin is currently seeing Dr Burzynski…

Read More Read More

here is the update: https://gogetfunding.com/blog-single-update/?blogpre=6408571&single=47269 Rick Jaffe, Esq.