The Courts' Role at the Apex of State Power: Public Health Restrictions in the Time of Pandemics

Houston Lawyers Chapter

Featuring:

  • Hon. Dan Hinde, Former Judge, 269th District Court of Harris County, Texas & Partner, Schiffer, Hicks, & Johnson PLLC

 

The COVID-19 Pandemic has threatened millions and caused unprecedented disruption throughout the country, as doctors and government leaders race to identify and treat the sick, find and allocate crucial medical equipment and supplies and PPE, slow the transmission of the novel coronavirus, and "flatten the curve." Suddenly, federal, state, and local officials have had to search for and prepare to use obscure, rarely invoked laws to respond to the pathogen. And as they do so, they will discover that the state courts have a crucial role.

 

Dan Hinde was a state district judge in Harris County for over 10 years. As a judge, he found himself presiding over one of the only involuntary quarantine cases brought in the county in years. He will provide an overview of the legal procedures and requirements to impose quarantines and managing people with communicable disease and then discuss the constitutional questions these procedures raise and the logistical and administrative difficulties that courts must address.