Legally, does the state and federal goverment have the power to control the movement of people?
Does the state have the power to control my movement from my own home to the end of the street for my daily walk?
Does the state have the power to control my movement from my own home to the end of the street for my daily walk?
Yes and no. I was curious, too.
https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/mass-quarantine-lockdown...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law_in_the_United_Stat...
"The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."
I guess the legal argument comes down to a lack of a comma between 'invasion' and 'the public safety'. Or whether a virus constitutes 'invasion'.
- 1st: Right to peacefully assemble
- 14th “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”
5th has similar text to 14th.
To be clear: I’m not arguing that the various govts. can’t impose quarantines or isolation orders, I’m just outlining which parts of the constitution are relevant to the legal questions.
That being said, it's a big scary step and there are lots of little steps likely to be taken before we get that far. You can see this in action in Italy.