New restrictions on civil liberties during coronavirus
This is part of our Coronavirus Update series in which Harvard specialists in epidemiology, infectious disease, economics, politics, and other disciplines offer insights into what the latest developments in the COVID-19 outbreak may bring. In the past week alone, the spread of COVID-19 has caused federal and state governments to take measures that would have seemed extreme just weeks earlier: shutdowns of businesses, closing of borders, and curtailing of large gatherings. By Friday, one in five Americans had been asked by state and local officials in places like California, New York, and Illinois to stay home. Under most circumstances, this might be seen as an attack on civil liberties. Yet there are moments in history when the normal rules don’t apply, and two of Harvard’s legal experts suggest that we are now living in such a time. While Harvard Law School faculty members Charles Fried and Nancy Gertner agree that the coronavirus...