Dr. Polly J. Price, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law and Professor of Global Health, recently weighed in on the constitutionality of mandatory quarantines for travelers from out of state for NBC News. Price is Associated Faculty in the Emory History Department. Read an excerpt featuring her contribution below, along with the full article: “Demanding a 14-day coronavirus quarantine is one thing, enforcing it is another, experts say.”

“Polly Price, a professor of law and public health at Emory University in Atlanta, said the problem with such pronouncements is that they bump up against U.S. citizens’ constitutional right to travel from one state to another.

“‘No state can prevent you from coming in,’ Price said. ‘What these states are doing is imposing conditions on that travel. When it goes from ‘we’re going to request that you self-quarantine for a period of time’ to ‘we’re going to arrest you or fine you if you don’t,’ that’s when constitutional issues become tricky.'”