Can anyone provide the reference for the law that gives local or state officials in Mass the authority to order a lockdown. Or was this more along the lines of a recommendation without the force of law. Could police have arrested people who disregarded the shelter in place order? While it certainly makes sense to instruct those in immediate danger to stay indoors, shutting down an entire city seems to border on martial law.
Martial law is the imposition of military administration in place of civilian government. It’s not a synonym for a curfew. Having said that, yes, it’s perfectly legal:
It may be possible to enforce it by curfew, as said, but in this case I believe it was only a “recommendation without the force of law”, as you put it. But a very strongly worded recommendation, nevertheless, in that they were saying that if you left your house, you were at risk of getting killed.
As for constitutional authority, there aren’t many cases involving challenges to emergency curfews. The only appellate case I found was Smith v. Avino, 866 F. Supp. 1399, 1404 (S.D. Fla. 1994) aff’d, 91 F.3d 105 (11th Cir. 1996), which involved a challenge to a county’s curfew imposition following a hurricane. The test seems to be whether the curfew is imposed in good faith and/or is overbroad relative to the emergency.
Here in Cambridge (I can’t speak for Watertown), the only messages we got had language like “strongly recommend” and “request your cooperation.” At no point was it communicated to me, a Cambridge resident, that there would be any legal consequences for failing to cooperate.
However, during the enormous blizzard that struck Boston a few months ago, driving WAS made illegal, and we were informed that anyone on the roads would be ticketed and/or arrested. So the government does have (or at least claim) the authority to shut the city down.
It was more in line with the co-operation effect, you can’t immoblize a town just looking for a wanted person.
Any arrest, arguendo, that would happen to a person who was outdoors during such would not uphold the 1st and 4th Amendments.