COVID-19: Legal and Government Resources
The library’s COVID focused posts addressed a swiftly changing legal landscape. Some information in this post may no longer be valid and some links may be broken or redirect to different content than originally published. Our intent is for these posts to be used for historical research purposes. Some resources with broken links may be found by searching the original URL in the Wayback Machine. We will continue to add law review articles to this post through early 2024.
During this time of crisis, the Washington State Law Library can help you with your COVID-19 legal related questions. Many organizations have put together COVID-19 resource guides. We have compiled them here, along with other relevant resources. Washington 2–1–1 can help connect you with community resources during the pandemic. Dial 2–1–1 or text “Coronavirus” to 211–211. Civil legal aid information can be found at the Washington Court website.
Washington State Self Help Legal Resources:
Washington LawHelp Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources
Resource Guides:
Washington State Bar Association COVID-19 Information and Resources
American Association of Law Libraries COVID-19 Resources
The ABA Coronavirus (COVID-19) Task Force
Courts Resources:
National Association for Drug Court Professionals COVID-19 Resources
National Center for State Courts Pandemic Response State by State Roundups
Coronavirus and the Courts: National Center for State Courts Data Visualizations
United States v. Allen and Judicial Review of Early Pandemic Courtroom Closures, 99 Denv. L. Rev. Forum 1 (2022)
Using Waller to Uphold First and Sixth Amendment Rights Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, 79 Wash. & Lee. L. Rev. Online 13 (2022)
The Right to a Public Trial in the Time of COVID-19, 77 Wash. & Lee. L. Rev. Online 1 (2020)
50 States Resources:
National Conference of State Legislatures: NCSL Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for States
National Conference of State Legislatures: State Action on Coronavirus COVID-19 Related Legislation
The Council of State Governments: COVID-19 Resources for State Leaders
COVID 19 Civil Legal Resources Organized by State
Criminal Justice:
National Conference of State Legislatures: Criminal Justice System Responses to COVID-19
Prison Policy Initiative COVID-19 and the Criminal Justice System
Resources for the Legal Community:
American Bar Association Pandemic Resources for Lawyers & Law Firms
LawSites Coronavirus Resources Blog post with information on products, services, education programs and news sources for lawyers
Law for All’s Remote Legal Services & Working Remotely webinar
Coronavirus Legal Daily from LexBlog
Working from Home — Remote Access to Legal Research blog post
Washington State Bar Association’s Law Office Reopening Guide
Health Law Resources:
National Health Law Program Coronavirus Resources
Family Law Resources:
American Bar Association COVID-19 and Family Law Issues
Association of Family and Conciliation Courts Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources and Information
Financial Resources:
Washington State Department of Financial Institutions Coronavirus Resources includes resources for mortgage and other financial assistance
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Guide to Coronavirus Mortgage Relief Options
National Consumer Law Center COVID-19 Resources
National Consumer Law Center COVID-19 & Consumer Protections
Harris County Law Library’s article After the Moratorium: National Eviction Resources and Data
Washington State Attorney General Protections for homeowners & renters in the face of COVID-19 information
Unemployment Resources:
National Employment Law Project COVID-19 Resources for Unemployed and Frontline Workers includes resources for immigrant workers
Unemployment Law Project COVID-19 & Unemployment Benefits includes webinar recordings on unemployment and COVID in Washington State
Immigration Resources:
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project COVID-19 Information
Immigrant Legal Resource Center Coronavirus and Immigration Resources
American Immigration Lawyers Association COVID-19 Resource Center
Protecting Immigrant Families Immigrant Eligibility for Public Programs During COVID-19
One America COVID 19- Resources for Immigrants/ Recursos para Inmigrantes (resources for Washington State)
Betancourt Macias Family Scholarship Foundation List of Resources (National & By State)
Emergency Powers Resources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Legal Authorities for Isolation and Quarantine
State Quarantine and Isolation Statutes
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Emergency Declarations and Authority
Washington State Attorney General’s Public Health Emergencies Legal Authority Memo
Constitution Daily: Constitutional Powers and Issues During a Quarantine Situation and related podcast
ABA Legal Fact Check State Powers
National Security Law Today’s Emergency Powers and COVID-19 podcast
National Lawyers Guild Know Your Rights During COVID-19
Congressional Research Service Legal Sidebar Federal Authority to Lift or Modify State and Local COVID-19 “Stay-at-Home” Orders: Frequently Asked Questions
The COVID Cases: A Preliminary Assessment of Judicial Review of Public Health Powers During a Partisan and Polarized Pandemic, Wendy E. Parmet, 57 San Diego L. Rev. 999 (2020)
The Long Shadow of Jacobson v. Massachusetts: Public Health, Fundamental Rights, and the Courts, Daniel Farber, 57 San Diego L. Rev. 833 (2020)
Jacobson 2.0: Police Power in the Time of COVID-19, 84 Alb. L. Rev. 383 (2020–2021)
Safe at Home? Legal and Liberty Concerns with Stay-At-Home Orders, Trudy Henson, 28 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 509 (2021)
Civil Liberties in a Pandemic: The Lessons of History, Erwin Chemerinsky & Michele Goodwin, 106 Cornell L. Rev. 815 (2021)
The Intersection of Epidemiology and Legal Authority: COVID-19 Stay at Home Orders, 18 Rutgers J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 1 (2021)
COVID’S Constitutional Conundrum: Assessing Individual Rights in Public Health Emergencies, 88 Tenn. L. Rev. 837 (2021)
COVID’s Counterpunch: State Legislative Assaults on Public Health Emergency Powers, 36 BYU J. Pub. L. 31 (2022)
Between Scylla and Charybdis: The Courts, the Constitution, and COVID-19, 55 Ind. L. Rev. 113 (2022)
Emergency Powers and State Legislative Capacity During the COVID-19 Pandemic, 15 N.Y.U. J. L. & Liberty 628 (2022)
Emergency Powers During a Viral Pandemic, 15 N.Y.U. J. L. & Liberty 822 (2022)
God, Guns, and Hair Salons: Public Perceptions of Rights and Liberties During the COVID-19 Pandemic, 125 W. Va. L. Rev. 87 (2022)
Constitutional Challenges to Public Health Orders in Federal Courts During the COVID-19 Pandemic, 102 B.U. L. Rev. 1729 (2022)
Emergency Relief During Emergencies, 102 B.U. L. Rev. 1787 (2022)
Emergency Rule: A New Paradigm for State and Local Governance?, 50 Fordham Urb. L.J. 723 (2023)
Rethinking the Federal Emergency Powers Regime, 84 Ohio St. L.J. 603 (2023)
Is Jacobson v. Massachusetts Viable After a Century of Dormancy? A Review in the Face of COVID-19, 39 Touro L. Rev. 247 (2024)
Washington State Law Library’s Washington Statewide Face Covering Mandate — Health and Legal Resources blog post
Religious Services and Free Exercise Resources:
Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York v. Cuomo at SCOTUSblog
Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo (2020) analysis at The First Amendment Encyclopedia
South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom injunction at SCOTUSblog
Tandon v. Newsom injunction at SCOTUSblog
Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Sisolak opinion (U.S 9th Circuit Court of Appeals)
Washington State Religious and Faith-based Organizations COVID-19 Requirements
More Than a Mask: Stay-at-Home Orders and Religious Freedom, Dorit Rubinstein Reiss & Madeline Thomas, 57 San Diego L. Rev. 947 (2020)
Safeguarding the Free Exercise of Religion During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Jiwoon Kong, 89 Fordham L. Rev. 1589 (2021)
From the Shadows: The Public Health Implications of the Supreme Court’s COVID-Free Exercise Cases, 49 J.L. Med. & Ethics 564 (2021)
The “Essential” Free Exercise Clause, 44 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 637 (2021)
The COVID-19 Church-Closure Cases and the Free Exercise of Religion, 37 Journal of Law and Religion 72 (2022)
The Supreme Court’s Hands-Off Approach to Religious Questions in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond, 24 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 276 (2022)
“Courting Anarchy”: Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 56 UIC L. Rev. 513 (2023)
The False Promise of Expanded Religious Liberty Rights After the COVID-19 Cases and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, 31 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 825 (2023)
COVID-19, Religious Freedom and the Law: The United States’ Case, 49 Am. J.L. & Med. 24 (2023) — contact the law library for this resource
COVID-19, Free Exercise, and Most Favored Nation Status, 27 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 1 (2023)
Religious and Secular Comparators, 30 Geo. Mason L. Rev. 3 (2023)
The Increasingly Dangerous Variants of the “Most-Favored-Nation” Theory of Religious Liberty, 108 Iowa L. Rev. 2237 (2023)
Masking God in Resurrection School v. Hertel: One School’s Efforts to Exercise Religion During an Ongoing Pandemic, 41 Miss. C. L. Rev. 36 (2023)
The Intersection of Civil Rights, Religious Liberty, and Infectious Disease, 36 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 619 (2023) — contact the law library for this resource
Incarcerated Population Resources:
Viral Injustice, 10 Calif. L. Rev. 117 (2022)
Policy/Legal Analysis:
The Constitutional Right to Travel Under Quarantine, 94 S. Cal. L. Rev. 1367 (2021)
COVID-19, Constitutional Law, and Catastrophe, 20 U.N.H. L. Rev. 153 (2021)
COVID’s Constitutional Conundrum: Assessing Individual Rights in Public Health Emergencies, 88 Tenn. L. Rev. 837 (2021)
Preparing for the Next Pandemic, University of St. Thomas Law Journal, Volume 18, Issue 2 (2022)
Imagining a Better Public Health (Law) Response to COVID-19, 56 U. Rich. L. Rev. 955 (2022)
The Irrepressible Myth of Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 70 Buff. L. Rev. 131 (2022)
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death? A Comparative Analysis of Public Health Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Their Efficacy, and Their Legal Implications [Note], 38 Ariz. J. Int’l & Comp. L. 319 (2022)
Pandemics and the Constitution, 2022 U. Ill. L. Rev. 229 (2022)
The Emergency Next Time, 18 Stan. J. C.R & C.L. 51 (2022)
Inherent Powers and the Limits of Public Health Fake News, 95 St. John’s L. Rev. 319 (2022)
Arbitrary Property Interference During a Global Pandemic and Beyond, 45 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 407 (2022)
Shades of Scrutiny: Standards for Emergency Relief in the Shadow Docket Era, 63 B.C. L. Rev. 2743 (2022)
Democratizing Emergencies: The Local Predicament, 101 N.C. L. Rev. F. 1 (2022)
Constitutional Challenges to Public Health Orders in Federal Courts During the COVID-19 Pandemic, 103 B.U. L. Rev. 1729 (2022)
Emergency Relief During Emergencies, 103 B.U. L. Rev. 1787 (2022)
Long COVID Side Effects: States Rethink Separation of Powers, 19 J. Health & Biomedical L. 140 (2022) — contact the law library for this resource
Lessons of the Plague Years, 54 Loy. U. Chi. L.J. 15 (2022)
Medical Martial Law: Towards a More Effective Pandemic Policy, 47 S. Ill. U. L.J. 1 (2022)
Politicization and Pariah-tization of Epidemics — A Recipe for Legal and Policy Disaster: Comparing the 1892 Cholera Epidemic with the Handling of COVID-19, 24 J. L. Society 25 (2024) — available online here
Emergency Powers and the Pandemic: Reflecting on State Legislative Reforms and the Future of Public Health Response, 21 Journal of Emergency Management 19 (2023)
Election Emergencies: Voting in Times of Pandemic, 80 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 359 (2023)
Mr. Crawford Gets COVID: Courts’ Struggle to Preserve the Confrontation Clause During COVID and What It Teaches Us About the Underlying Rights, 98 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 239 (2023)
Judicial Review in Times of Emergency: From The Founding Through The Covid-19 Pandemic, 109 Va. L. Rev. 489 (2023)
COVID-19 and IHEs: How to Balance Student Need with the Financial Health of Higher Education, 56 New Eng. L. Rev. F. 38 (2023)
The Privilege of Persuasion: Reconciling Pandemic-Era CDC Publicity with Democratic Ideals, 57 New Eng. L. Rev. F. 25 (2023)
Public Health Deference: Rethinking The Judicial Enforcement of Constitutional Rights During a Pandemic, 73 Syracuse L. Rev. 55 (2023)
The Contract Clause: Reawakened in the Age of COVID-19, 136 Harv. L. Rev. 2130 (2023)
Fever Check: A Status Report on Judicial Treatment of COVID-19-Related Real Property Issues, 58 Real Prop. Tr. & Est. L.J. 47 (2023)
Unavoidable Necessities: How COVID-19 and Ali v. Commonwealth Illustrate the Need for a New Balancing Test for Speedy Trial Right Claims, 57 U. Rich. L. Rev. 81 (2023)
Navigating Uncertain Times — Bioterrorism, the Constitution, and National Security — Addressing Threats without Trampling Individual Liberties, Who’s in Charge in a Time of Crisis?, 47 Okla. City U. L. Rev. 347 (2023)
Post-Pandemic Constitutionalism: COVID-19 as a Game-Changer for “Common Principles”?, 44 U. Pa. J. Int’l L. 815 (2023)
Parents v. COVID: The Core and the Limits of the Parental Right to Direct Education, 101 Or. L. Rev. 423 (2023)
Contact Tracing and Privacy Resources:
Governor’s Proclamation 20–64, Public Records Act — Contact Tracing — Personal Information
Congressional Research Service Report Digital Contact Tracing and Data Protection Law
American Bar Association article Could Contact Tracing Technology Violate the Fourth Amendment?
Reuters article Data Privacy Laws Collide with Contact Tracing Efforts; Privacy is Prevailing
Immunity Passports and Contact Tracing Surveillance, Ignacio Cofone, 24 Stan. Tech. L. Rev. 176 (2021)
Public Health Surveillance in the Context of COVID-19, Jennifer Oliva, 18 Ind. Health L. Rev. 107 (2021)
Compiled Emergency Actions Information:
Washington State Supreme Court Orders in Response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
Washington State Court Closures and Emergency Modifications to Operations
United States Courts Court Orders and Updates During COVID-19 Pandemic
Tribal Resources:
Tribal Law and Policy Institute COVID-19 Resources
Federal Government Resources:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) United States official COVID-19 site
Government Response to Coronavirus, COVID-19 USA.gov’s compilation of federal resources
United States Department of Labor’s COVID-19 and the American Workplace
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) COVID-19 site
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Response to COVID-19
Congressional Research Service Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Resources including legal analyses
Washington State Government Resources:
Washington State Coronavirus Response Washington State’s official COVID-19 site
Washington Courts’ COVID-19 Response
Directory of Virtual Court Proceedings in Washington State
What’s Open in Each Phase? information page
Washington State Coronavirus Response COVID-19 Business and Worker Inquiries
Office of the Governor’s COVID-19 Reopening Guidance for Businesses and Workers
TVW COVID-19 Coverage Unedited video coverage of Governor Inslee press events and other COVID programming
Washington State Employment Security Department COVID-19 Programs Resources for workers and businesses
Washington State Department of Labor & Industries COVID-19 Resources
Business.wa.gov Small Business Guidance COVID-19 Business Resources for Washington State
Department of Revenue Business Relief During COVID-19 Pandemic
Washington State Department of Health 2019 Novel Coronavirus Outbreak (COVID-19)
Washington State Department of Health and Social Services COVID-19 Information
Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner Coronavirus Information
Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guidance & Resources
Local Government Resources:
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources for Local Governments in Washington
