Episode 45: COVID-19 in the Courts w/ Dr. Susan Sterett

Amy Barnes41min

Dr. Ian Anson

00:04

Hello and welcome to Retrieving the Social Sciences, a production of the Center for Social Science scholarship. I'm your host, Ian Anson, Associate Professor of Political Science here at UMBC.

Dr. Ian Anson

00:16

On today's show, as always, we'll be hearing from UMBC faculty, students, visiting speakers, and community partners about the social science research they've been performing in recent times. Qualitative, quantitative, applied, empirical, normative. On Retrieving the Social Sciences, we bring the best of you UMBC's social science community to you.

Dr. Ian Anson

00:40

While everyone experienced the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, we didn't all experience it the same way. Some of us were able to quickly and seamlessly lock down at home, completing our work via zoom, and trying to minimize the destabilizing nature of the transition. Others faced massive changes to their lives as their workplaces shut down, leaving them without a stable source of income, and so government programs stepped in to bolster the industries in which they worked. Still others struggled to manage the closure of their small businesses, as they're suddenly dammed up revenue streams were no longer available to pay down the loans they had taken out for equipment and other startup costs. And of course, many of us experienced serious illness, or had loved ones get sick. And for more than 1 million Americans, or about one in every 330, the pandemic would claim our lives. Now in 2023, with a couple of years of hindsight, it's still shocking and overwhelming to recount what we've been through together.

Dr. Ian Anson

01:38

But the outcomes of the pandemic were also a lesson in politics, in the way that public policy, lawmaking and executive decisions at the state, local, and federal levels combined to determine what happens in the face of disasters.

Dr. Ian Anson

02:01

This is itself a fascinating an ongoing topic of study across the social sciences. But on today's episode of Retrieving the Social Sciences, we take a close look at how courts were involved in determining the outcomes of the pandemic, and how litigation played a deeply political role in the age old question of who gets what, when, and how. To understand the role of the courts in the COVID 19 pandemic, I'm delighted to bring you my recent conversation with Dr. Susan Sterett, Professor in the School of Public Policy here at UMBC. Dr. Sterett has recently published a new book with the University of Pennsylvania Press, entitled "Litigating the Pandemic: Disaster Cascades in Court."

Dr. Ian Anson

02:40

The book argues that while the United States experienced multiple failures of governance during the pandemic, perhaps the least heralded has been governance through litigation. This is a fascinating and timely account. And I'm really excited to break it all down in our feature interview. Let's dive in right now.

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