Federal Quarantine Powers and Bioterrorism

[Robin Charlow]

That would make them instrumentalities of disease transmission, but
"commerce", per Lopez and Morrison?

>>> Larry Tribe <larry at TRIBELAW.COM> 07/25/00 09:03PM >>>
As carriers of various ailments across state borders, are they not
instrumentalities of commerce? Much cleaner than all that messy
"affect"
stuff, wouldn't you say?

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Finkelman [mailto:paul-finkelman at UTULSA.EDU]
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2000 7:54 PM
To: CONLAWPROF at listserv.ucla.edu
Subject: Re: Federal Quarantine Powers and Bioterrorism


The question is, would Justices Thomas and Scalia find that microbes
and
viruses
affect  interstate commerce?

--
Prof. Paul Finkelman
Visiting at Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College
July 5-August 3, 2000
10015 SW Terwilliger Blvd.
Portland, OR  97219
(503) 768-6863
(503) 768-6671 (fax)
finkelma at lclark.edu
After August 3, University of Tulsa (918) 631-3706



"Richards, Edward P." wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Just got back from speaking and attending the International
Conference on
> Emerging Infectious Diseases the CDC put on in Atlanta.  Lots of
interesting
> research.  The hot button issue of the conference was bioterrorism
and the
> potential federal and state responses.
>
> One point that intrigued me - the CDC is working on a policy
statement
about
> quarantine (of people) under Federal law.  The director of the
project
(not a
> lawyer) told the audience that the FDA has the power to quarantine
and
block the
> interstate travel of people with communicable diseases.
>
> Any one know about the extent of this power?  Is there a more
general
power of
> the federal government to quarantine individuals, other than those
getting
off
> ships? Must the individuals be in interstate travel, or could the
feds
> quarantine on a local level?
>
> Ed
>
> Edward P. Richards
> Executive Director - Center for Public Health Law
> Professor of Law
> University of Missouri Kansas City
> (816)235-2370 Fax (816)235-5276
> richardse at umkc.edu
> http://plague.law.umkc.edu