Of course they have the power: they have the guns. That's not the real question; the real questions are 1) whether the populace will tolerate it, and how much; 2) whether the state's forces will willingly open fire on intolerant citizens; 3) whether the state chooses to use the power, whether legal or not.

You mean like they did at Kent State?

>Legally, does the state and federal goverment have the power to control the movement of people?

Yes and no. I was curious, too.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/mass-quarantine-lockdown...

Wouldn't this fall under 'martial law'?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martial_law_in_the_United_Stat...

"The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

I guess the legal argument comes down to a lack of a comma between 'invasion' and 'the public safety'. Or whether a virus constitutes 'invasion'.

Habeas corpus isn’t the issue here. It’s 1st / 5th / 14th amendment issues:

- 1st: Right to peacefully assemble

- 14th “nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”

5th has similar text to 14th.

To be clear: I’m not arguing that the various govts. can’t impose quarantines or isolation orders, I’m just outlining which parts of the constitution are relevant to the legal questions.

Thanks. And same – I'm not advocating one way or the other, simply wanting to understand the constitutionality.

The answer to this question is always yes regardless of the government in dire circumstances. That's why there are some of these laws on the books for quarantine in the first place from 1918.

That being said, it's a big scary step and there are lots of little steps likely to be taken before we get that far. You can see this in action in Italy.

This is a good recent summary for non-lawyers https://thedispatch.com/p/the-police-power-of-the-states-to

It is called quarantine, and yes they do, under certain circumstances.

Yes, this is a long-recognized aspect of the states’ police power.