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Professor Gerard Magliocca shared his insights with two Indiana newspapers regarding actions taken by government at all levels to protect public health. One story focuses on constitutional questions concerning these restrictions, and the other concerns presidential powers.

In the Indiana Lawyer, Professor Magliocca pointed to previous examples of instances where constitutional rights were restricted during public health emergencies, including congregational gatherings, political protests, voting, and elective medical procedures. It is not unheard of for governments to limit constitutional rights in times of crisis, he said.

“There are plenty examples in the past – they’re just further back in the past than anyone alive can remember – where there were epidemics and things were closed down,” Professor Magliocca said in the story.

Professor Magliocca also discussed presidential powers in a story that appeared in the Indianapolis Star.

Professor Magliocca, a well-known constitutional law scholar, is the Samuel R. Rosen Professor of Law at IU McKinney. He is the author of four books, the latest of which, The Heart of the Constitution: How the Bill of Rights Became the Bill of Rights, was published by Oxford University Press in 2018. He also is the author of over 20 articles on constitutional law and intellectual property. He was named to the 2019-2020 class of fellows for the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon.