SANTA FE – New Mexico Supreme Court Justice David Thomson is chairing a program at a national legal group’s annual meeting that will focus on litigation over emergency public health emergency orders across the country.
The program will be held on Aug. 6 at the American Bar Association’s annual meeting.
“This session will not pass judgment on any judicial opinions or how state governments have handled public health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Justice Thomson. “We want to start a conversation in the program about how our democratic institutions are set up to handle the legal issues raised by a public health emergency and the lessons we are learning from COVID-related litigation.”
The program will feature a mock appellate court argument by Matt Garcia, chief of staff and former general counsel in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office, and Renee M. Landers, a professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. Justice Thomson, Shawn Ellen LaGrua, a justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, and Wendy Mariner, a Boston University professor of health law, will serve as judges during the argument, asking questions of the attorneys to explore COVID-related legal issues. After the argument, all five of the panelists will discuss the issues raised during the session.
The program, “Constitutional Long Haulers: The undiagnosed long-term impact of judicial review on emergency public health orders,” is one of several virtual programs at the ABA meeting that allow attendees to receive credits toward continuing legal education requirements. The ABA is conducting its first-ever hybrid annual meeting, which features both online sessions for remote participants and in-person events in Chicago.
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