New UC Law course investigates impact of COVID-19 on the law, society

From the legality of requiring business patrons to wear masks, to disclosure of personal health information and history, to questions concerning state agencies shutting down businesses for weeks at a time, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated numerous legal implications. The issues impact the criminal justice system, public health, property, employment and much more.

To explore these issues, University of Cincinnati College of Law is introducing a series of short courses that delves into the impact of COVID-19 from a legal perspective.  The new course series, called COVID-19 and the Law, is specifically designed for incoming first-year students and will be taught online May 25-June 25.

This course is unique in that it gives students a taste of the law school experience while expanding their knowledge about the many legal angles to this very complex situation that has overtaken society. Over 80 incoming students have signed up for the course series.

Cincinnati Law tapped its faculty scholars and experts in constitutional law, property law, employment law, criminal justice and more to lead the class. The seven professors, including the newest member to the faculty Meghan Morris, will debate the issues and provide insight from many angles.

Constitutional Law and COVID-19 will be taught by A. Christopher Bryant, Rufus King Professor of Law, an award-winning teacher and prolific scholar. His course will take a deep dive into two related federal court cases arising in Kentucky challenging the application of a shelter-in-place order to religious services on the grounds that doing so violated core commitments to religious freedom.  The cases raise fundamental questions about both the meaning of the First Amendment as well as the roles of courts and legislatures in defining and protecting individual rights. 

Criminal Justice & COVID-19 will be taught by Mark Godsey, Daniel P. and Judith L. Carmichael Professor of Law and Director of the Ohio Innocence Project. He is leading scholar, attorney and activist in the Innocence Movement. Godsey’s session will discuss the criminal justice system's response to the COVID-19 crisis, including the recent releases of two of the Ohio Innocence Project's clients, both who were high-risk for contracting COVID-19 in prison. Incidentally, both exonerees had their convictions overturned and were released from prison in the height of the pandemic.

Contract Law & COVID-19 will be led by Emily Houh, Gustavus Henry Wald Professor of the Law and Contracts, a leading scholar in the interplay between contract law, critical race theory and socioeconomic (in)equality. Professor Houh’s course examines how the pandemic is impacting the ability of people and businesses to perform their contract obligations in varying contexts—such as international commercial trade, employment contracts, and student loan contracts.  How, for example, does contract law work to both empower and dis-empower transactors in a market economy?  How has it been used to both level the playing field and put up barriers to economic equality?  And what, if anything, should contract law aim to do?

Public Health & COVID-19 will be led by Betsy Malloy, Andrew Katsanis Professor of the Law, whose scholarship focuses on health law. Her course looks at the power of State officials, particularly State public health officials, during the time of the pandemic and the strategies they adopt to protect the community. It will examine the legacy of a 100-year-old case, Jacobson v. Massachusetts and the broad authority it provides public health authorities during a public emergency.