Litigants have raised the interaction between the SDOH and the pandemic in a wide range of cases, including petitions for compassionate release from prison, prayers to stay evictions, and challenges to the conditions of confinement in immigration detention centers. The impact of social conditions on health have also been relevant in numerous cases in which courts have been called upon to decide the constitutionality of state public health measures. These cases demonstrate why it is now more crucial now than ever that the courts have a deep and sophisticated understanding of how social determinants affect health and relate to legal issues.

 

Below is a selected list of resources on the topic of COVID-19 and the role of the judiciary. 

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For a list of COVID-19 cases, state and federal visit ballotpedia.org. 

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COVID-19, generally

• COVID-19 Law and Policy Briefings (Public Health Law Watch et al, 2020)

• COVID-19 (The Network for Public Health Law)

• Coronavirus Resources (National Health Law Program)

 

COVID-19 Economic Relief Bill 

• National Conference of State Legislatures: COVID-19 Economic Relief Bill 

• Biden Meets with State and Local Officials on Economic Relief Plan 

• National Law Review: COVID-19 Relief Bill  

• The American Rescue Plan

• The American Rescue Plan Act Signed: Details on the Latest COVID-19 Relief Package (March 2021)

Prison conditions and COVID-19

• Prison conditions with COVID in general, and in support of ‘decarcerating’ in order to flatten the curve

• Compassionate release would save lives

• “Policymakers’ responsibility to provide their constituents safety from a public health crisis becomes a constitutional requirement when it applies to their most vulnerable population: people in prison and jail.”

• Prisons have been centers of largest outbreaks

• ABA webinar on compassionate release

• The COVID Prison Project

• The Marshall Project: State-by-State Prison COVID-19 Data  

• Prison Policy Initiative 

• UCLA COVID-19 Behind the Bars Data Project

• The Marshall Project: 98% of compassionate release requests were denied to people incarcerated in federal facilities

• Prison Policy Initiative: Criminal Justice policy changes in response to COVID-19

• Failure to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks in state prisons and local jails 

• Brennan Center: Federal and State responses to COVID-19 in jails and prisons during the pandemic

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Immigration Detention and COVID-19

• On COVID data in ICE Detention Centers

• ICE Guidance on COVID-19​

• Immigrants are especially vulnerable

• Dangers of COVID in Detention Centers

• ​Immigrants afraid to be tested

• Continually updating COVID developments with immigration (court cases, policy changes)

• The impact of COVID-19 on the undocumented Latinx community

• The effects of COVID-19 across the U.S. immigration system

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Judicial Action and Immigration Issues during COVID-19

• Judge issues injunctions blocking “public charge” immigration rules

• Judge orders foreign citizens’ work permits to be printed, points to how lack of income makes immigrants vulnerable to COVID

• Judge orders ICE to free detained children because of COVID-19

• Judge orders testing at Ca. testing facility

• Department of Justice's Immigration Court failures during the COVID-19 pandemic

• 1.3 Million Case Backlog in Immigration Courts

• DOJ immigration courts' COVID response was a complete mess, including miscommunication, inconsistent decisions, and high risk of exposure to the virus

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SCOTUS COVID-19 Cases

• SCOTUSblog: Late 2020 COVID-19 Cases 

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo 

• Tandon v. Nesom

 

Eviction and COVID-19

• Evictions will lead to spread of COVID

• U.S. eviction bans ending could worsen spread of coronavirus

• On eviction moratoriums

• Briefly on effect of moratorium also health impacts of evictions during COVID

• Eviction Lab COVID 19 State Policy “Scorecard”

• CDC Eviction Moratorium -- CDC.gov 

• Biden Extends Eviction Moratorium  

• NPR: Why The CDC Eviction Ban Isn't Really A Ban 

• State and Federal eviction bans and other tenant protections during COVID-19

• National Low Income Housing Coalition: Federal Eviction Moratoriums

• Federal Eviction Moratorium extended until June 30th at last minute

• National Low Income Housing Coalition: COVID-19 & Housing and Homelessness

• COVID-19 pandemic significantly worsened housing inequality

• Supreme Court leaves CDC eviction moratorium intact

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COVID-19 and Working Conditions

• Workplace inequalities and heightened risk to COVID-19 exposure

• Tracking COVID-19's impact on meatpacking workers and industry

• COVID-19 pandemic highlighted unsafe working conditions and lax workers' rights protections

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Biden Administration Initiative on COVID-19 and Equity 

• whitehouse.gov: Executive Order on Equitable Pandemic Response 

• whitehouse.gov: Executive Order Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19  

• Biden's "National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic preparedness"