N.D.Ind.: Covid mask requirements, contact tracing, and quarantine procedures did not violate 4A

Covid mask requirements, contact tracing, and quarantine procedures did not violate the Fourth Amendment. Plaintiffs don’t even say how. Skains v. Lake Cent. Sch. Corp., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134970 (N.D. Ind. Aug. 2, 2023):

… States have police powers under the Tenth Amendment to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its residents. See Barnes v. Glen Theatre, Inc., 501 U.S. 560, 569, 111 S. Ct. 2456, 115 L. Ed. 2d 504 (1991). States, therefore, “traditionally have had great latitude under their police powers to legislate as to the protection of the lives, limbs, health, comfort, and quiet of all persons.” Medtronic, Inc. v. Lohr, 518 U.S. 470, 475, 116 S. Ct. 2240, 135 L. Ed. 2d 700 (1996).

To control the spread of diseases such as COVID-19, states, including Indiana, enacted guidelines and orders implementing the use of isolation and quarantine procedures. Courts throughout the country have upheld the constitutionality of such state action during a novel pandemic. See e.g., Klaassen v. Trustees of Indiana University, 7 F.4th 592, 593 (7th Cir. 2021); Bayley’s Campground, Inc. v. Mills, 985 F.3d 153, 164 (1st Cir. 2021); McArthur v. Brabrand, 610 F. Supp. 3d 822, 837 (E.D. Va. 2022); Six v. Newsom, 462 F. Supp. 3d 1060, 1069 (C.D. Cal. 2020).

Since the LCSC relied on the reasonable recommendations issued by federal, state, and local authorities to combat the spread of COVID-19, it cannot be said that restricting the plaintiffs from attending school or school events was an unreasonable search or seizure. As a result, the plaintiffs’ claim under the Fourth Amendment fails.