Catherine G. Clodfelter, JD, MPH, was a Public Health Analyst, Center for Global Health, Fordham University School of Law, New York City, NY.
Catherine G. Clodfelter, JD, MPH, is currently an Associate, Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, Raleigh, NC.
Health Secur. 2022 Mar-Apr;20(2):97-108. doi: 10.1089/hs.2021.0123. Epub 2022 Feb 3.
Laws play an important role in emergency response capacity. During the COVID-19 outbreak, experts have noted both a lack of law where it is needed and a problematic use of laws that exist. To address those challenges, policymakers revising public health emergency laws can examine how existing laws were used during the COVID-19 response to address problems that arose during their application. Judicial opinions can provide a source of data for this review. This study used legal epidemiology methods to perform an environmental scan of global judicial opinions, published from March 1 through August 31, 2020, from 23 countries, related to government-issued COVID-19 mitigation measures. The opinions were coded, and findings categorize the measures based on: (1) the World Health Organization's May 2020 publication, and (2) related legal challenges brought in courts, including disputes about authority; conflicts of law; rationality, proportionality, or necessity; implementation; and enforcement. The findings demonstrate how judicial review of emergency measures has played a role in the COVID-19 response. In some cases, court rulings required mitigation measures to be amended or stopped. In others, court rulings required the government to issue a measure not yet in place. These findings provide examples for understanding issues related to the application of law during an emergency response.
法律在应急响应能力中发挥着重要作用。在 COVID-19 疫情期间，专家指出，在需要法律的地方缺乏法律，以及现有法律的使用存在问题。为了应对这些挑战，修订公共卫生紧急事件法律的政策制定者可以研究在 COVID-19 应对期间如何使用现有法律来解决在实施过程中出现的问题。司法意见可以为这一审查提供数据来源。本研究使用法律流行病学方法对 2020 年 3 月 1 日至 8 月 31 日期间来自 23 个国家与政府发布的 COVID-19 缓解措施相关的全球司法意见进行了环境扫描。对意见进行了编码，并根据以下标准对措施进行了分类：（1）世界卫生组织 2020 年 5 月的出版物；（2）在法庭上提出的相关法律挑战，包括对权力的争议；法律冲突；合理性、相称性或必要性；实施；以及执行。研究结果表明，对紧急措施的司法审查在 COVID-19 应对中发挥了作用。在某些情况下，法院裁决要求修改或停止缓解措施。在其他情况下，法院裁决要求政府发布尚未实施的措施。这些发现为理解紧急情况下法律适用的相关问题提供了范例。
