Publication Date
2010
Abstract
At some point in the future, the United States will confront a deadly pandemic. One potential response to blunt the impact of an outbreak may be the use of a large-scale quarantine. The current statutory framework governing federal quarantine authority, however, is outdated and in need of revision. Any reform must acknowledge that the federal government may be best positioned to respond to national health threats and must simultaneously create limits on federal power to ensure a proper balance of power remains between the states and the federal government. This Note proposes that Congress focus its reform efforts on adding a section to the Public Health Service Act authorizing large-scale quarantines in the event a state is unable or unwilling to respond to a health threat. Specifically, the new section should be based on language found in a nineteenth-century maritime quarantine statute and a current federal regulation. Given the demands of modern diseases,we must recognize that both the states and federal government will play different, yet equally important roles in any future health crisis. Reforming federal quarantine laws now, in a time of calm, will allow for a more effective response and, most importantly, leaves the country better prepared to deal with a doomsday pandemic in the future.
Recommended Citation
Clarkson, John T.
(2010)
"Phase Six Pandemic: A Call to Re-evaluate Federal Quarantine Authority Before the Next Catastrophic Outbreak,"
Georgia Law Review: Vol. 44:
No.
3, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/glr/vol44/iss3/6