{"id":1818,"date":"2023-03-09T10:14:12","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T15:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=1818"},"modified":"2023-03-09T10:14:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T15:14:12","slug":"lawsuits-and-legislation-strip-public-health-authorities-of-dictatorial-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=1818","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuits and Legislation Strip Public Health Authorities of Dictatorial\u00a0Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20370%20247'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-19.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load wp-image-1820\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"691\" height=\"461\" src=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-19.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1820\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-19.png 691w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-19-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-19-370x247.png 370w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-19-293x195.png 293w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-19-120x80.png 120w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-19-240x160.png 240w, https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-19-390x260.png 390w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 691px) 100vw, 691px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Protesters descend on the Ohio Statehouse for an anti-mask rally in Columbus on July 18, 2020. (Jeff Dean\/AFP\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Washington Post<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the next pandemic sweeps the United States, health officials in Ohio won\u2019t be able to shutter businesses or schools, even if they become epicenters of outbreaks. Nor will they be empowered to force Ohioans who have been exposed to go intoquarantine. State officials in North Dakota are barred from directing people to wear masks to slow the spread. Not even the president can force federal agencies toissuevaccination or testing mandates to thwart its march.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Civil libertarians have defanged much of the nation\u2019s public health system through&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/over-half-of-states-have-rolled-back-public-health-powers-in-pandemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">legislation<\/a>&nbsp;and<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/conservative-blocs-litigation-curb-public-health-powers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;litigation<\/a>&nbsp;as the world staggers into the fourth year of covid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At least30states, nearly all led by Republican legislatures, have passed laws since 2020 that limit public health authority, according to a Washington Post analysis of laws collected by<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/over-half-of-states-have-rolled-back-public-health-powers-in-pandemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kaiser Health News and the Associated Press<\/a>as well as the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/lawatlas.org\/page\/state-legislation-addressing-public-health-emergency-authority\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Center for Public Health Law Research<\/a>&nbsp;at Temple University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Health officials and governors in more than half the country are now restricted from issuing<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/health\/2022\/12\/22\/mask-mandate-covid-tripledemic\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;mask mandates<\/a>, ordering<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/2020\/03\/31\/california-inches-closer-joining-list-states-expected-keep-schools-closed-2019-20-school-year\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;school closures<\/a>&nbsp;and imposing other protective measures or must seek permission from their state legislatures before renewing emergency orders, the analysis showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Themovement to curtail public health powers successfully tapped into a populist rejection of pandemic measures following widespread anger and confusion over the government response to covid. Grass-roots-backed candidates ran for county commissions and local health boardson the platform of dismantling health departments\u2019 authority. Republican legislators and attorneys general, religious liberty groups and the legal arms of libertarian think tanks&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/conservative-blocs-litigation-curb-public-health-powers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filed lawsuits<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/over-half-of-states-have-rolled-back-public-health-powers-in-pandemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote new laws<\/a>&nbsp;modeled after legislation promoted by groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative, corporate-backed influence in statehouses across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Alabama legislaturebarred businesses from requiring proof of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/coronavirus\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coronavirus<\/a>&nbsp;vaccination. In Tennessee, officials cannot close churches during a state of emergency. Florida made it illegalfor schools torequire coronavirus vaccinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result,public health experts warn, is a battered patchwork system that makes it harder for leaders to protect the country from infectious diseases that cross red and blue state borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOne day we\u2019re going to have a really bad global crisis and a pandemic far worse than covid, and we\u2019ll look to the government to protect us, but it\u2019ll have its hands behind its back and a blindfold on,\u201d said Lawrence Gostin, director of Georgetown University\u2019s O\u2019Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. \u201cWe\u2019ll die with our rights on \u2014 we want liberty but we don\u2019t want protection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those seeking to dismantle public health powers say they\u2019re fighting back against an intrusion on their rights by unelected bureaucrats who overstepped amid a national crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t want to concentrate power in a single set of hands,\u201d said Rick Esenberg, head of the Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty, a libertarian law firm that won a state Supreme Court casebarring health officials from&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/conservative-blocs-litigation-curb-public-health-powers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">closing schools<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a usurpation of the legislative role.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many conservatives said they did not believe the public health orders were effective in saving lives, despite&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/missouriindependent.com\/2021\/12\/01\/missouri-health-department-found-mask-mandates-work-but-didnt-make-findings-public\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">evidence to the contrary<\/a>. One study, for example, found that coronavirus vaccines&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.commonwealthfund.org\/blog\/2022\/two-years-covid-vaccines-prevented-millions-deaths-hospitalizations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prevented 3.2 million additional deaths<\/a>&nbsp;in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Leaders in the public health establishment readily admit that many of their problems have been self-inflicted. Among the mistakes: an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/investigations\/2020\/04\/03\/coronavirus-cdc-test-kits-public-health-labs\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">early failure by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>&nbsp;to roll out a diagnostic test for covid; an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/video\/washington-post-live\/fauci-on-how-his-thinking-has-evolved-on-masks-asymptomatic-transmission\/2020\/07\/24\/799264e2-0f35-4862-aca2-2b4702650a8b_video.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">about-face on whether people should wear masks<\/a>&nbsp;to limit the spread of the virus; and confusing messages on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/health\/2022\/08\/01\/covid-contagious-period-isolation\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">when to exit isolation<\/a>&nbsp;after an infection. The duration of school closures remains a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/2022\/03\/17\/dc-schools-achievement-gap-pandemic-reading\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">source of recriminations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe deserve to have that backlash to some extent,\u201d said Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force under President Donald Trump, citing early CDC stumbles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than1,000 legal decisions have been made at the local, state and federal level regarding public healthprotectionssince March 2020, according toresearch published in January in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ajph.aphapublications.org\/doi\/epdf\/10.2105\/AJPH.2022.307181\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">American Journal of Public Health<\/a>.While only a quarter succeeded in weakening public health powers, therulingshave substantially chipped away at the legal standing of health agencies and officials to protect the public, said Wendy Parmet, director of Northeastern University\u2019s Center for Health Policy and Law, who co-wrote the paper. \u201cThe courts are leaving us vulnerable,\u201d Parmet said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lawsuits found a conservative Supreme Court and federal judiciary transformed by Trump and ready to strip the federal government\u2019s public health powers to issue mandates or other disease-control measures, said Jennifer Piatt, adeputy director with the Network for Public Health Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A single federal judge in Florida was able&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/travel\/2022\/05\/02\/plane-mask-mandate-immunocompromised\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to defeat<\/a>&nbsp;the CDC\u2019s travel mask mandate.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/conservative-blocs-litigation-curb-public-health-powers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Republican attorneys general<\/a>&nbsp;knocked out a federal vaccinate-or-test mandate issued by the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/health\/2022\/01\/13\/supreme-court-workplace-vaccine-mandate\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_29\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Occupational Safety and Health Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These \u201cbig court wins\u201d ensure that the next time there is a pandemic, the country will not be able to respond as it had in 2020 with government overreach, said Peter Bisbee, executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople are going to push for more freedom in every aspect of their lives, but specifically when it comes to the ability to make decisions regarding health and medicine,\u201d Bisbee said. \u201cSo many people lost faith with the government messaging on public health crises.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The consequences are already playing out in Columbus, Ohio, where a child&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/health\/2023\/01\/12\/childhood-vaccination-rates-measles-chickenpox-polio\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_34\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">with measles<\/a>&nbsp;was able to wander around a mall before showing symptomsin November, potentially spreading the highly contagious disease.The state legislature<a href=\"https:\/\/ohiocapitaljournal.com\/2021\/06\/23\/new-pandemic-law-takes-effect-experts-say-it-undermines-public-health\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&nbsp;in 2021<\/a>&nbsp;had stripped the city health commissioner\u2019s ability to order someone suspected of having an infectious disease to quarantine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Columbus Health Commissioner Mysheika Roberts bemoans the basic public health functions she has lost control of \u2014 such asthe ability to shut downa restaurant with a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/to-your-health\/wp\/2017\/09\/13\/to-fight-deadly-hepatitis-outbreak-san-diego-begins-power-washing-streets-with-bleach\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_36\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hepatitis A<\/a>&nbsp;outbreak as shehad donebefore covid.&nbsp;<em>\u201c<\/em>All the other workers exposed preparing food for others to eat \u2014 they could continue to go to work and shed hepatitis A\u201d under the new legislation, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Wisconsin, the constant threat of lawsuits by the Wisconsin Institute for Law &amp; Liberty has made officials wary of acting quickly to address any public health threat, said Kirsten Johnson, the former health commissioner of Milwaukee who is now the state\u2019s health secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before the pandemic, Johnson said, she hadthreatened to shut down a prominent local golf tournament after&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/health\/2022\/08\/18\/ecoli-causes-symptoms-treatment\/?itid=lk_inline_manual_40\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">E. coli<\/a>&nbsp;was found in the well water, which forced the organizers to bring in bottled water. Now, she said, she\u2019s afraid to issue such a threat, for fear of legal retribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt the beginning of the pandemic, it didn\u2019t even occur to me that public health authority was an issue,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cFast forward a year later, I had great hesitation of what was appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/stuartbramhall.wordpress.com\/2023\/03\/09\/lawsuits-and-legislation-strip-public-health-authorities-of-dictatorial-authority\/\">https:\/\/stuartbramhall.wordpress.com\/2023\/03\/09\/lawsuits-and-legislation-strip-public-health-authorities-of-dictatorial-authority\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington Post When the next pandemic sweeps the United States, health officials in Ohio won\u2019t be able to shutter businesses or schools, even if they become epicenters of outbreaks. Nor will they be empowered to force Ohioans who have been exposed to go intoquarantine. State officials in North Dakota are barred from directing people to wear masks to slow the spread. Not even the president can force federal agencies toissuevaccination or testing mandates to thwart its march. Civil libertarians have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-covid"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1818"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1821,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818\/revisions\/1821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}