In April 2022, attorney Bobbie Anne Cox filed suit in the New York State Supreme Court against Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) and the New York State Department of Health. Borrello v. Hochul sought to prevent implementation of 10 NYCRR 2.13, or Rule 2.13, a DOH regulation titled “Isolation and Quarantine Procedures,” which empowered public health officials to issue isolation and quarantine orders for New York citizens “to control the spread of a highly contagious communicable disease.”
According to Cox, the regulation leaves citizens vulnerable to multiple violations of their civil rights. “This regulation renders New Yorkers guilty until proven innocent,” she said.
A quick review of the rule’s text confirms that concern.
Nothing in Rule 2.13 requires health officials to prove that the targets of their orders have a communicable disease. No due process is granted prior to detainment, and no advance warning of intent to detain is required. Health officials are instructed to “monitor” citizens placed in quarantine or isolation and permitted to use law enforcement to manage compliance with their orders. One’s imagination does not have to be large to conjure up the many terrifying ways in which bureaucrats with clipboards might wield this unprecedented power.
Most critically, as the lawsuit Cox and her team filed against the regulation pointed out, the state had no authority to issue Rule 2.13 in the first place. “This case is all about separation of powers between the Executive branch of government (the Governor and DOH) vs the Legislative branch of government (our State Senators and Assembly Members),” Cox argued.
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Rebecca Sugar is a writer living in New York. Her column, The Cocktail Party Contrarian, appears every other Friday in the New York Sun.