Challenges of the COVID-19 Response: A Legal Perspective
This week, given the extreme circumstances surrounding the recent COVID-19 pandemic, we are once again deviating from our usual ILE content and leaning on the expertise of our in-house law fellow, Samantha Zinnes , to talk about the challenges local government has in dealing with the crisis. This brief interview was conducted via zoom on March 30 th , 2020. Relating to the law and this COVID-19 crisis, what can you say about the federal and local response? SZ: The problem right now is not necessarily that the law is flawed, but that we have a distribution of leaders who are unevenly using the law and the tools it gives them to their fullest potential. We have a federal government with tools that only the federal government can use, but they are not being implemented the way states and local governments want or need them to be. So the fact that we have multiple levels of government is a double-edged sword. The states check the federal government by only al...