摘要：The judicial branch’s key roles, as guardian of civil liberties and protector of the rule of law, can be acutely relevant during public health emergencies when courts may need to issue orders authorizing actions to protect public health or restraining public health actions that are determined to unduly interfere with civil rights. Legal preparedness for public health emergencies, therefore, necessitates an understanding of the court system and how courts are involved in public health issues. In this article we briefly describe the court system and then focus on what public health practitioners need to know about the judicial system in a public health emergency, including the courts’ roles and the consequent need to keep courts open during emergencies. We are under a Constitution, but the Constitution is what the judges say it is, and the judiciary is the safeguard of our liberty and our property under the Constitution. —Charles Evans Hughes (American Jurist and Statesman, 1862–1948) The prophecies of what the courts will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law. —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr ( The Path of the Law , Harvard Law Review, 1897). THE JUDICIAL BRANCH OF THE US system of government stands as the guardian of civil liberties and protector of the rule of law. The critical role that our courts play is particularly important during emergencies. At such times, courts may, for example, issue orders authorizing certain actions to protect public health. Courts may also intervene to restrain public health actions that are determined to unduly interfere with civil rights. Legal preparedness for public health emergencies, therefore, necessitates an understanding of the role of the courts in the US system of justice and the involvement of the courts in public health issues. To effectively perform its role, the judiciary may periodically require enhanced understanding of a public health issue. Public health officials must also be thoroughly familiar with judicial rules and procedures and be ready to bring the presiding jurist up to speed on the law and facts. Put simply, public health officials, as well as their attorneys, must know their way around the courthouse. Recognizing that mutual understanding is particularly important with regard to public health emergencies, we focus on the courts’ critical roles in and preparedness needs for such emergencies. As an essential backdrop, we provide an introduction to the structure and function of federal and state courts and describe how federalism requires state and federal courts to share power. We then address what public health practitioners need to know about the judicial system in a public health emergency, including the role of the courts and the consequent need to keep courts open during emergencies. Finally, we describe tools that are being developed to assist courts in performing their important tasks during a public health emergency. Although this article is devoted to the courts’ roles in and preparedness needs for public health emergencies, it is important to understand that outside of the public health emergency context disputes involving every type of public health issue may be taken up in court. Those issues may arise from public health areas as diverse as environmental protection, injury prevention, eradication of nuisances (i.e., hazardous waste, unsanitary conditions, and so on), reproductive health, and infectious disease control.
