While the United states Armed Forces (private mercenaries) are in Afghanistan and the Philippines defending “all freedom-loving people everywhere in the world,” the Center for Law and the Public’s Health, at Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities proposes the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, to be submitted to all state legislatures, that is intended to give the nation a uniform health code, passed through the states.  The act has such a loose definition of what is a “public health emergency” that a governor might be able to declare a state of emergency if one case of childhood smallpox appears at a government-run public school.  The governor would then be empowered to suspend civil liberties, seize property without compensation, impose martial law, and isolate “infectious” persons in internment camps—without due process.  Residents who refuse medical examinations, testing, or inoculations are subject to misdemeanor penalties and coerced isolation.  The state, governor, public health authorities, statute enforcement officers from civil damages that might arise from enforcement of the act.

       [restored 7/2/2023] Thanks to Dave Seely and Freedom’s Phoenix for this entry.