The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Alabama (United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, Northern Division) · Alabama
- Level
- Court
- Authority
- Ala. Code §§ 31-9-3(4), 31-9-6(1), 31-9-8(a)(1), (5), (6), 31-9-13, 22-2-2(6), 22-2-8 as construed; the State's police power
- Issued
- 2021-06-01 June 1, 2021
- Effective
- 2021-06-01
- End
- n/a (judicial decision) (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- June 1, 2021 to Sept. 30, 2021
- Quarters
- 2021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Stay-at-homeBusiness closureGathering capFace-covering requirementWorkplace rulesStanding duty
- Addressees
- persons generally; businesses and worship gatherings (the plaintiffs' challenged restrictions)
- Character
- adjudication
- Collection
- Standing duties: Alabama DUT-AL
Operative words
These 'rules and regulations shall have the force of law and shall be executed by the same courts, bodies, officials, agents, and employees as in the case of health laws....' Id. The authority outlined above demonstrates that Alabama law provides Dr. Harris with the ability to issue orders in response to COVID-19.
Penalty
as recited: fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment in the county jail (Ala. Code § 31-9-22)
What it required
The federal court's holding on the source of the duties: the Governor's proclamations 'squarely fall within the framework of the AEMA' (§§ 31-9-6(1), 31-9-8(a)(1), (5), (6)); the State Health Officer 'shall... take prompt measures to prevent' invading disease (§ 22-2-8) and his rules 'shall have the force of law' (§ 22-2-2(6)); the July 15, 2020 proclamation 'introduced, for the first time, enforcement language' with the $500 fine and county jail (at 11); the challenges to the orders were dismissed. Character as recorded: adjudication (order_penalty layer).
Retrieval noteSixty-eight pages; the court's own page numbers are used for pins (the AEMA and § 22-2-2 discussion at 4-5; the July 15, 2020 promulgation and enforcement language at 11; Jacobson at 65). The court's chronology of the orders (Part II.B) is an independent judicial account of the regime in the library (Exs. AL-005 to AL-049). The reporter citation 542 F. Supp. 3d 1245 is taken from secondary references and is graded verified_secondary until checked against the reporter.