The United States Supreme Court and the Legacy of the Health Emergency: Partisanship and Conservative Judicial Activism

The article deals with the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence during the health emergency to identify the different trends that have characterized the Court’s decisions in that peculiar historical period compared to those of continental European courts. The case law reveals some exceptional patterns, still recurring in the most recent rulings: the Court has departed inconstantly from its long tradition of deference during times of crisis; it has accorded heightened protection to Free Exercise, even at the expense of the right to health; it has devalued medical evidence and scientific expertise. Finally, this article concentrates on the legacy of the health emergency, which may be centered around two related concepts: partisanship and conservative judicial activism.