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Public Health Law

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Abstract

The legal system of the United States (“U.S.”) operates under the concept of Federalism. The U.S. Constitution creates powers that are reserved for the federal government and delegates the remaining powers to the states. Each U.S. State promulgates its own State Constitution, statutes, and regulations, as well as systems of local government to which they may delegate authority to act (referred to as police powers). Due to this delegation, preemption (defined below) plays a key role in public health law and actions taken by different levels of government (i.e. federal, state, county, local). Public health law is broad in scope and transcends multiple other areas of law. Further, the law is in and of itself a social determinant of health. Both foundational and interventional legal interventions can be used to effectively implement and enforce public health measures that impact people’s daily lives.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Coordinating Center for Public Health Training, New Orleans, LA, USA

    Montrece Ransom

  2. The Network for Public Health Law, Mid-States Region, Edina, MN, USA

    Emely Sanchez

  3. Healthcare Regulatory Attorney, San Diego, CA, USA

    Molly Berkery

Authors
  1. Montrece Ransom
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  2. Emely Sanchez
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  3. Molly Berkery
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Montrece Ransom .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of General Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Amirala S. Pasha

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Ransom, M., Sanchez, E., Berkery, M. (2022). Public Health Law. In: Pasha, A.S. (eds) Laws of Medicine . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08162-0_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08162-0_5

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-08162-0

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