Made2Measure

This is the eleventh in a series of blog posts beginning on February 4, 2020 focused on justice systems’ responses to the coronavirus pandemic -- SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name and Covid-19 is the disease it causes --and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19. Law and order is changing across the United States and around the world during the existential crisis of the coronavirus epidemic in unprecedented ways as   people, groups, and organizations violate quarantine and stay-at-home orders;   ignore restrictions on travel and congregations; horde scarce medical supplies and provisions; engage in price gouging; mount illegal protests; and commit crimes. Police officers in New York City today are patrolling parks, monitoring restaurants and bars to ensure they are closed, and making sure that people are complying with “social distancing” in public spaces. When every expert ...

This is the tenth in a series of blog posts beginning on February 4, 2020 focused on judicial systems’ response to the coronavirus pandemic -- SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name; Covid-19 is the disease it causes --and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19. The United States today passed the grim milestone of 1,000 deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic. Conspicuously absent from the battle are the United States armed forces in a whole-of-society response . Militaries Marshalled Around the World Countries around the world are marshalling the capabilities of their armed forces to combat the coronavirus epidemic including China, Italy, Spain, France, Israel, Hungary, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, and Peru (see the Economist online edition of March 23 rd ). Other countries are likely to follow suit. Armed forces   are being deployed to quarantine whole cities, patrol the streets, ...

This is the ninth in a series of blog posts focused on   judicial systems’ response to the coronavirus pandemic -- SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name; Covid-19 is the disease it causes   --and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19. Two years ago, my colleagues and I were   first introduced to the concept of a whole-of- government approach to existential threats to our national security, safety, and general welfare   at the “Inaugural Whole of Government National Security Conference” on April 20, 2018 in Williamsburg, Virginia, sponsored by the Whole of Government Center of Excellence at William & Mary. (We had not yet expanded our understanding of the need for a broader whole-of-society approach to such threats.) Almost all of the presenters and the majority of 150 conference attendees were active or retired military officers or consultants and academics who ...

This is the eigth in a series of blog posts, about judicial systems’ response to the coronavirus outbreak (SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name; Covid-19 is the disease it causes)and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19. Last updated April 1. The coronavirus pandemic has made it abundantly clear that existential threats to our national safety and welfare requires not only a whole-of-government but a whole-of-society approach that joins government, private industry, non-profit organization, foundations, and academia. What is required of courts and justice systems is not just vigorous efforts to assure continuity of operations and access to services but a proactive response that identifies risks and vulnerabilities as the virus spreads. Two such risks and vulnerabilities are noncompliance with laws, and restrictions of rights and civil liberties. Social Disorder and Violations of La...

This is the seventh in a series of blog posts about judicial systems’ response to the coronavirus outbreak (SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name; Covid-19 is the disease it causes)   and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19. “Force majeure”   is a common clause in commercial contracts that essentially frees both parties from liability or obligation when an extraordinary event, circumstance, or irresistible force beyond the control of the parties,   such as the Covid-19 pandemic, prevents one or both parties from meeting their obligations under the contract.   In civil law, force majeure is sometimes referred to a “vis divina” or “the act of God.” Most force majeure provisions do not excuse a party's non-performance entirely, but only suspends it for the duration of the force majeure. Cases Will Increase There seems little doubt that contract cases invoking force ...

This is the sixth in a series of blog posts about judicial systems’ response to the coronavirus outbreak (SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name; Covid-19 is the disease it causes)  and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19. Two developments related to the virus pandemic reported in today’s Wall Street Journal are likely to impact courts and the justice system. Like almost everything about Covid-19, how much of an impact is anyone’s guess. First, under the heading “Pain and Suffering for Profit,” the   Journal’s opinion page describes   two lawsuits filed by a Florida law firm, Chalik and Chalik Law, against the Princess Cruise line for gross negligence in causing “emotional stress” to passengers recently quarantined on a cruise ship off the coast of California. “We believe the cruise lines have a pattern of putting profits over their passengers,” Attorney Jason Chalik ...

This is the fifth in a series of blog posts about judicial systems’ response to the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name; Covid-19 is the disease it causes) outbreak and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19. The severity of the Covid-19 outbreak is revealing yet another national security threat to those of which we today are well aware: the disruption of the supply chains of lifesaving drugs produced by Chinese companies. China is the primary source of crucial medical drugs. If this supply is in jeopardy, these drugs would stop reaching Americans. In a February 24 letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri warned: The novel coronavirus in China highlights severe, longstanding, and unresolved vulnerabilities in our capacity to produce lifesaving pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices… This is unacceptable… [The] recent o...

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts about judicial systems’ response to the coronavirus ( SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name; Covid-19 is the disease it causes ) outbreak and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19. As reported by the Los Angeles Times’ Rob Vardon , on March 1 U.S. Federal Judge Josephine Staton cancelled a hearing scheduled early last week on the hotly debated federal proposal to   use a Costa Mesa, California, facility, the Fairview Developmental Center, to house 30 to 50 infected patients. Three days earlier, the federal government had withdrawn its request to use the facility as a quarantine site after objections from local officials and residents. The transfer was expected to start as early as February 23. But just two days before that, the city was able to obtain a temporary restraining order (TRO), halting the transfer to the state-owned facility ...

This is the third in a series of blog posts about judicial systems’ response to the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 is its technical name; Covid-19 is the disease it causes) outbreak and the justice systems’ active participation in a whole-of-society-approach (WOSA) to national security and safety threats such as Covid-19. As the coronavirus (Covid-19) spreads, it will cause extensive quarantines of people infected by or exposed to the disease. This will lead to disputes that courts will be asked to resolve. Courts will need to act swiftly and to coordinate their decisions and actions with other parts of the government and civil society. But this is not what courts’ structure and theoretical underpinnings – separation of powers, judicial independence, and precedence -- are designed to do. My colleagues and I have argued in an article in the last issue of the Court Manager and in the first of the posts in this series that these impediments to swift and coordinated actions in a whole-of-so...