The COVID Project
The record
- Jurisdiction
- Texas (United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit) · Texas
- Level
- Court
- Authority
- 28 U.S.C. § 1651 (mandamus); Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905); Tex. Gov't Code ch. 418
- Issued
- 2020-04-07 Apr. 7, 2020
- Effective
- 2020-04-07
- End
- n/a (published opinion) (read as 2021-09-30)
- In force
- Apr. 7, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021
- Quarters
- 2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
- Limitation types
- Emergency declarationHealth care ordersStanding duty
- Addressees
- specified businesses (licensed health care professionals and facilities under GA-09); persons generally (the Jacobson standard for every emergency order)
- Character
- adjudication
- Collection
- Standing duties: Texas DUT-TX
Operative words
The bottom line is this: when faced with a society-threatening epidemic, a state may implement emergency measures that curtail constitutional rights so long as the measures have at least some "real or substantial relation" to the public health crisis and are not "beyond all question, a plain, palpable invasion of rights secured by the fundamental law."
Penalty
n/a (the order enforced carried the § 418.173 penalty recited in GA-09, Ex. TX-004)
What it required
The Fifth Circuit vacated a district court's restraining order against GA-09 (Ex. TX-004), held the Governor's COVID-19 order a valid exercise of the State's emergency police power under Jacobson binding on the regulated class of licensed health care providers, and described the measures States had 'been forced to take': 'states have closed schools, sealed off nursing homes, banned social gatherings, quarantined travelers, prohibited churches from holding public worship services, and locked down entire cities' (at 17). Character as recorded: adjudication (orders upheld).
Retrieval noteSlip opinion from the court's own site; pins are to the slip opinion's pages (13 and 17). The State-court authorities on the binding character of the Governor's orders are already in the library: State v. El Paso County (Ex. TX-047 at 6, 12: the restaurants' 'sole dispute is whether they must comply with CE-13 or GA-32'; GA-32's declarations on occupancy, gatherings and 'the conduct of business... become state law') and the Supreme Court of Texas stays of August 2021 (Exs. TX-044 to TX-046).