Video: "Lockdown, Testing and Tracking: Are They Really Legal?"

A Look At Hawaii's COVID Response

by Robert Thomas, InverseCondemnation, June 26, 2020

Here's the recording of our webinar from earlier this week, in which we and fellow Honolulu lawyer Jeff Portnoy did our best to address some of the many questions that have arisen during the coronavirus shut-down.

Jeffrey Portnoy and Robert Thomas talked about what we can expect as the state and counties slowly lift their seemingly endless stay-at-home orders, which have discriminated between “essential” and “nonessential” workers, mandated “social distancing” and mask-wearing, and imposed 14-day quarantines on arriving airport passengers, both tourists and residents returning home.

During the hourlong event, Portnoy and Thomas considered whether businesses destroyed or devastated by the lockdowns have any legal recourse, and whether proposals being suggested to revive Hawaii’s devastated tourism industry, such as replacing the 14-day quarantines with various forms of testing and tracking, might violate constitutional privacy protections.

We've written up two articles with our thoughts on these issues:

The first is Hawaii-specific: "Hoist the Yellow Flag and Spam® Up: The Separation of Powers Limitation on Hawaii’s Emergency Authority," 43 U. Haw. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2020).

The second is about the takings issues emergency orders present: Evaluating Emergency Takings: Flattening The Economic Curve.