About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

51 Wake Forest L. Rev. 165 (2016)
The Constitutionality of Quarantine and Isolation Orders in an Ebola Epidemic and Beyond

handle is hein.journals/wflr51 and id is 175 raw text is: THE CONSTITUTIONALITY OF QUARANTINE AND ISOLATION ORDERS IN AN EBOLA EPIDEMIC AND BEYOND INTRODUCTION On September 30, 2014, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that a man who had traveled from Liberia to Dallas, Texas, was the first person to be diagnosed with the Ebola virus in the United States.1 The same man's death eight days later marked the first death resulting from Ebola in the United States.2 At the time of this writing, the number of Ebola cases in West Africa totaled more than 28,000, and the disease had claimed the lives of more than 11,000 people.3 Growing fears in the United States regarding the Ebola epidemic, coupled with heavy-handed responses to prevent the spread of Ebola in the United States by several state and local governments, soon led to the imposition of a state-mandated quarantine on an American citizen.4 Although the federal government and administrative agencies disagreed whether the quarantines were necessary, states, including New Jersey and Maine, instituted them independently under their police powers.5 This Comment argues that the law provides stronger federal authority in the face of quarantinable, communicable diseases than may have been previously thought. Part I delves into the history of quarantine and isolation tactics as defense strategies to minimize the spread of communicable diseases in the United States. Part II examines the various legal authorities from which the federal, state, and local governments have derived their powers to forcibly quarantine American citizens in the past. Part III explores the 1. Cases of Ebola Diagnosed in the United States, CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION, http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west -africa/united-states-imported-case.html (last updated Dec. 16, 2014). 2. Id. 3. Previous Case Counts, CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION, http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/previous-case -counts.html (last updated Jan. 21, 2016). 4. See Katie Kindelan & Aaron Katersky, Nurse Kaci Hickox Will Go to Court' Over Maine Ebola Quarantine Rule, ABC NEWS (Oct. 29, 2014, 2:18 PM), http://abcnews.go.com/US/nurse-kaci-hickox-court-maine-ebola-quarantine-rule /story?id=26535878. 5. Lawrence 0. Gostin & Eric A. Friedman, State Quarantine Powers Under the Constitution: Fear in an Age of Ebola, AM. CONST. SOC'Y FOR L. & POL'Y: ACSBLOG (Nov. 4, 2014), http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/state-quarantine -powers-under-the-constitution-fear-in-an-age-of-ebola.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most