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Regressive Federalism, Rights Reversals, and the Public’s Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2022

James G. Hodge Jr. ,
Jennifer L. Piatt ,
Leila Barraza  and
Erica N. White
James G. Hodge Jr.
Affiliation:
SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR COLLEGE OF LAW, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, PHOENIX, ARIZONA, USA
Jennifer L. Piatt
Affiliation:
SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR COLLEGE OF LAW, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, PHOENIX, ARIZONA, USA
Leila Barraza
Affiliation:
MEL AND ENID ZUCKERMAN COLLGE OF PUBLIC HEALTH, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TUCSON, ARIZONA, USA
Erica N. White
Affiliation:
SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR COLLEGE OF LAW, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY, PHOENIX, ARIZONA, USA
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Abstract

As the United States emerges from the worst public health threat it has ever experienced, the Supreme Court is poised to reconsider constitutional principles from bygone eras. Judicial proposals to roll back rights under a federalism infrastructure grounded in states’ interests threaten the nation’s legal fabric at a precarious time. This column explores judicial shifts in 3 key public health contexts — reproductive rights, vaccinations, and national security — and their repercussions.

Keywords

FederalismRegressionConstitutional PrinciplesPandemicNational Security Rights
Type
Columns: Public Health and the Law
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 50 , Issue 2: Commercial Speech and Commercial Determinants of Health , Summer 2022 , pp. 375 - 379
Copyright
© 2022 The Author(s)

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Footnotes

About This Column

James G. Hodge, Jr., J.D., LL.M., serves as the section editor for Public Health and the Law. He is the Peter Kiewit Foundation Professor of Law and Director, Center for Public Health Law and Policy, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University (ASU).

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