Kopf: An Extremely Short Blog on Covid-19

Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld the authority of states to enforce compulsory vaccination laws against illnesses like small pox. The Court’s decision articulated the view that individual liberty is not absolute and is subject to the police power of the state.

The decision was 7-2. Justice John Marshall Harlan delivered the decision for the majority that the Massachusetts law did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment. Specifically, the Court’s decision articulated the view that individual liberty is not absolute and is subject to the police power of the state.

So far as I can tell, the case is still good law. So what?

Richard G. Kopf
Senior United States District Judge (Nebraska)