# Constitutional rights when a virus doesn't read the Constitution **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 4, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constitutional-rights-when-a-virus-doesnt-read-the-constitution/914314 "2020-07-04T19:34:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constitutional-rights-when-a-virus-doesnt-read-the-constitution/914314/21 "2020-07-06T13:09:19Z")
[quote=“UltraVires, post:17, topic:914314, full:true”]This is not a quarantine. A quarantine is separating known sick people from others so as not to spread the infection. This is mandating that healthy people stay isolated so that they don’t get sick and then spread the infection. That is of such a different degree that makes the comparison inapt.[/quote]Why? The State’s Police Power to protect public health has never been limited to just quarantine.[quote=UltraVires]What is to stop its application to the seasonal flu? Simply the magnitude of it?[/quote]When weighing governmental powers vs individual rights how could “the magnitude of it” not be a major factor? It always has, and always will be. [quote=UltraVires]The framers knew of the Black Death in Europe and of pandemics in general. They did not put a pandemic exception into the Constitution, even when it knew how to put exceptions in other areas (e.g. suspension of habeas corpus).[/quote]Absolutely. The Constitution certainly still applies in a pandemic. The Founders also knew about yellow fever. Which is why the Supreme Court upheld isolation and quaratine orders in Vapeur v Louisiana Board of Health, despite the claims of the plaintiffs that there was no evidence of infection. The Founders also banned travel to and from Philly and New York during a particularly heinous outbreak of yellow fever. The Founders also knew about smallpox. Which is why the Supreme Court upheld mandatory vaccinations in Jacobsen v. Massachusetts. And your tired reference to BLM protestors is little more than a desperate talking point than anything resembling a legal argument. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constitutional-rights-when-a-virus-doesnt-read-the-constitution/914314/22 "2020-07-06T16:14:24Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > I’m not sure how 'murricans came to believe that one of the provisions in the Bill of Rights is “you’re not the boss of me.” Dumbed-down kiddified teaching of history and civics. > [@Trinopus](#): > > The courts have ruled that legislation granting Governors and Mayors emergency powers are sufficient to allow them to mandate masks, and so masks are mandatory, and this does not violate the constitution. Yet people insist in resisting that based on the supreme inalienable Right to You’re Not The Boss of Me. It is kind of funny, one or two generations ago, it was people labeling themselves conservatives who argued that “liberty does not mean license to do whatever the hell you want”. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constitutional-rights-when-a-virus-doesnt-read-the-constitution/914314/23 "2020-07-06T18:11:20Z")
Your right to swing your arm ends at my nose - even libertarians believe that. So why doesn’t your right to spew virus-laden droplets end at my body also? I wonder if states with stand your ground laws would allow someone to blow away a maskless idiot who refuses to social distance? ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constitutional-rights-when-a-virus-doesnt-read-the-constitution/914314/24 "2020-07-06T20:39:54Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > The Founders also knew about yellow fever. Which is why the Supreme Court upheld isolation and quaratine orders in Vapeur v Louisiana Board of Health, despite the claims of the plaintiffs that there was no evidence of infection. The Founders also banned travel to and from Philly and New York during a particularly heinous outbreak of yellow fever. > > The Founders also knew about smallpox. Which is why the Supreme Court upheld mandatory vaccinations in Jacobsen v. Massachusetts. > > And your tired reference to BLM protestors is little more than a desperate talking point than anything resembling a legal argument. We’ve went through this in other threads and those cases have nothing to do with these emergency orders. And until the left owns up to its hypocrisy with BLM protestors, I will keep bringing it up, your hand waiving aside. > [@Voyager](#): > > Your right to swing your arm ends at my nose - even libertarians believe that. So why doesn’t your right to spew virus-laden droplets end at my body also? Sure, if I have virus-laden droplets a spewing at you, you have every right to stop that. What you cannot do is assume without any evidence that I am one of the fraction of 1% of people who may be carrying the virus. You cannot do that anymore than a homeowner can shoot the mailman because, after all, he might try to harm the homeowner. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constitutional-rights-when-a-virus-doesnt-read-the-constitution/914314/25 "2020-07-06T21:08:49Z")
At least you’re consistent, UV. Just like all the other threads, you simply ignore the caselaw and offer no support (or even logical thinking) for your grand conclusions. Par for course with you. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2020, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constitutional-rights-when-a-virus-doesnt-read-the-constitution/914314/26 "2020-07-06T23:46:45Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > It is kind of funny, one or two generations ago, it was people labeling themselves conservatives who argued that “liberty does not mean license to do whatever the hell you want”. And, not long ago at all, when discussing the use of torture to gain information from terrorism suspects, they declared, “The constitution is not a suicide pact.” But when it comes to wearing a mask to prevent people from dying, now, suddenly, the constitution is more important than lives. Ah, hypocrisy! ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2020, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constitutional-rights-when-a-virus-doesnt-read-the-constitution/914314/27 "2020-07-07T00:01:37Z")
‘When some ‘virus’ kills as many people as terrorism does get back to me!’ Conservative Tough Guy, Soon To Need A Vent CMC [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/constitutional-rights-when-a-virus-doesnt-read-the-constitution/914314.md?page=1)