Check your knowledge

Public health law plays an important role in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies. Do you know what key constitutional principles and doctrines protect individual civil liberties from government overreach during response to public health emergencies?

QUESTION 1

In Jacobson v. Massachusetts, the Supreme Court found that states have the authority to use reasonable regulations that restrict individual liberty to protect the public good. True or false?

TrueFalse

ANSWER - TRUE

QUESTION 2

Which of the following is not a basic due process requirement for quarantine and isolation?

ANSWER - E

Right to leave at will

QUESTION 3

Whether a detention has a reasonable basis can depend on the science. True or false?

TrueFalse

ANSWER - TRUE

RATIONALE: The government must be able to show that science (for example, the disease’s communicability) supports the actions being taken.

QUESTION 4

When possible, a person subject to isolation or quarantine should be given the choice of confinement within their own home. True or false?

TrueFalse

ANSWER - TRUE

RATIONALE: Often the least restrictive means is confinement in a person’s own residence.

QUESTION 5

It is a violation of due process to detain someone before they are given a fair hearing. True or false?

TrueFalse

ANSWER - FALSE

RATIONALE: If public health is in jeopardy, state laws generally allow detainment prior to a hearing. But such a detainment does not negate the right to a timely hearing.

You've completed the quiz!

/ 5

If you answered 3 or more questions correctly, you are a public health law superstar!

If you answered fewer than 3 questions correctly, you are on your way to becoming a public health law superstar.

No matter your score, you will find more information by reading our blog post on social distancing or by taking our Public Health Law Academy training Public Health Threats & the US Constitution: What Responders Need to Know About Equity, Law, and Public Health Authority. These resources discuss the powers and limits of public health law in an emergency.