Author: TheConversation

By Marc Ambinder, Executive Fellow in Digital Security, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism Many Americans have been under strict stay-at-home orders, or at least advisories, for more than a month. People are frustrated and depressed, but have complied with what they have been asked to endure because they trust that state and local public health officials are telling the truth about the coronavirus pandemic. There has been passionate – and honest – argument about how many people are likely to get sick and die under different circumstances and sets of official rules. It is...

By Kevin J. Bennett, Professor, University of South Carolina The burden of COVID-19 in rural areas has been under the radar, as the toll of the disease so far has been heaviest in dense urban areas. But up to 30% of the U.S. population lives in rural America, which already has experienced more than 128 hospital closures since 2010, including 19 last year. COVID-19 could lead to more closures and instability in rural America, even though the lower density of rural areas may help keep transmission rates of the disease down. With fewer people living across relatively large areas,...

By Steven Mulroy, Law Professor in Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Election Law, University of Memphis When Wisconsin voters and officials sought to adapt the state’s spring elections to better observe social distancing guidelines, the U.S. Supreme Court refused. One of the changes state officials had asked for was extra time so voters could cast their ballots by mail. The coronavirus outbreak is set to last for months or even years. What will that mean for the elections – including the presidential one in November – that are on the way? Calls have come from many quarters, both Democratic and...

By Austin Sarat, Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College When Wisconsin voters had to brave the coronavirus pandemic to vote in their state’s April 7 election, it was the latest phase of a nearly 60-year legal and political fight over who can vote in the United States. Wearing masks and gloves, Wisconsin residents who voted in person were met by election officials in similar attire. That was new. But it wasn’t new that voters found hundreds of polling places closed and therefore had to wait in line for hours. A U.S. Supreme Court decision just the day...

By Jaime Ahlberg, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Florida As people rush to stockpile provisions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, stores have placed restrictions on the purchase of basic goods and medicines. When supply chains are vulnerable to spikes in demand, one person’s stockpiling can mean another person’s shortage. As a philosopher who has studied ethical action in difficult circumstances, I know that when many people fail to act ethically, it can seem that each individual has less of an obligation to act well. At this time, American political philosopher John Rawls’ theory of justice can offer...

By Maria Ivanova, Associate Professor of Global Governance and Director, Center for Governance and Sustainability, John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston The first Earth Day protests, which took place on April 22, 1970 brought 20 million Americans – 10% of the U.S. population at the time – into the streets. Recognizing the power of this growing movement, President Richard Nixon and Congress responded by creating the Environmental Protection Agency and enacting a wave of laws, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. But Earth...