The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enduring effect across the entire spectrum of law and policy, in areas ranging from health equity and racial justice, to constitutional law, the law of prisons, federal benefit programs, election law and much more. This collection provides a critical reflection on what changes the pandemic has already introduced, and what its legacy may be. Chapters evaluate how healthcare and government institutions have succeeded and failed during this global 'stress test,' and explore how the US and the world will move forward to ensure we are better prepared for future pandemics. This timely volume identifies the right questions to ask as we take stock of pandemic realities and provides guidance for the many stakeholders of COVID-19's legal legacy. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

‘COVID-19 and the Law offers a critical reflection on the successes and failures of the health system, as well as the law and ethics that undergird it. Edited by world class scholars at Harvard and Yale, this book offers crucial lessons on how we can be better prepared for the next pandemic, which is all but inevitable. With more than a million deaths in the US, and still counting, why was the response so weak? This book probes this crucial question through the multidisciplinary lens of law, medicine, science, and politics. This book must be on the essential reading list of anyone who wants to understand this unprecedented pandemic, and how it will impact our future.’

Lawrence Gostin - O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law, Georgetown University and Director, WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law