{"id":"DUT-TN-015","kind":"duty","level":"state","jurisdiction":"Tennessee","state":"TN","metro":"","industry":"","agency":"","eco":"","issuer":"Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter, State of Tennessee","authority":"Tenn. Code Ann. sec. 8-6-109; construing Tenn. Code Ann. sec. 58-2-107, Executive Order No. 54 and Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905)","instrument":"Tenn. Att\u0027y Gen. Op. No. 20-14","title":"Constitutionality of Governmental Mandate to Wear Face Coverings","dateIssued":"2020-07-16","effective":"July 2020 (opinion)","end":"n/a (opinion)","startDate":"2020-07-16","endDate":"2021-09-30","quarters":["2020Q3","2020Q4","2021Q1","2021Q2","2021Q3"],"types":["MASK","DUTY"],"addressees":["persons generally; businesses within counties and metropolitan areas under face-covering orders"],"clause":"As a general proposition, a governmental mandate that requires the general population to wear face coverings in public due to the health emergency caused by COVID-19 would be constitutionally defensible. The constitutionality of any particular governmental mandate, though, would depend on its specific terms and the underlying authority of the governmental entity issuing it.","enforcement":"The county orders under EO 54 were orders \u0027for purposes of Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 58-2-120\u0027 (Ex. TN-031, Section C, para. 6; Ex. DUT-TN-007)","functions":[],"notes":"Confirmed that the county face-covering mandates issued under Executive Order No. 54\u0027s delegation (Exs. TN-021, TN-069 to TN-075, TN-083) and the metropolitan health departments\u0027 mandates (Exs. MET-BNA-005, -009, -034, -062) were lawful exercises of the police power; applied Jacobson (\u0027a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members\u0027) and The Local Spot v. Lee (Ex. DUT-TN-018), and stated that \u0027the governmental decision as to how best to protect the public is afforded great deference.\u0027 Character as recorded: agency_interpretation (Attorney General opinion).","sourceUrl":"https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2020/op20-14.pdf","snapshot":"","fileExists":true,"fileBytes":643472,"grade":"primary","character":"agency_interpretation","description":"","collection":"DUT-TN","url":"/library/DUT-TN-015","exhibitUrl":"/exhibit/DUT-TN-015","citation":"Herbert H. Slatery III, Attorney General and Reporter, State of Tennessee, Tenn. Att\u0027y Gen. Op. No. 20-14 (July 16, 2020) (Ex. DUT-TN-015)","stateName":"Tennessee","related":["TN-021","TN-069","TN-075","TN-083","MET-BNA-005","DUT-TN-018","TN-031","DUT-TN-007","DUT-TN-014"]}