What are the federal quarantine powers? This explainer comic illustrates this federal law and its related regulations. It also shows the difference between a law and a regulation, in pictures.

The first page of this explainer comic shows the title, “The federal quarantine powers (in pictures) by Maddy Buck” and some images from the comic, including an anthropomorphized CDC, a sad person identified as being isolation, and another sick person in quarantine.

The text of this explainer comic panel says, “In the earlier stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, CDC used the federal quarantine powers on U.S. citizens evacuated from Wuhan, China and some cruise ships. The travelers were required to quarantine on army bases for 14 days. Reading about this made me wonder… What ARE these “federal quarantine powers”? This panel only has some designs on the top and bottom, no illustration.

The text at the top says, “The Constitution gives Congress the authority ‘to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several states, and with Indian tribes.” The illustration shows a plane, a boat, a car, all of them crossing borders and boundaries.

The text on this panel says, “this authority to regulate interstate Commerce (as opposed to commerce within a state), Congress gave the U.S. surgeon general the power to prevent the spread of diseases across U.S. state and international borders by detaining, examining, and conditionally releasing people crossing these borders.” The illustrations show an anthropomorphic Congress telling a surgeon general to “prevent the spread” and passing them a scroll denoted as Section 361 Public Health Service Act. I also shows the surgeon general manipulating state and international borders.

The text on this panel says, “Federal laws are what Congress creates. Federal regulations are what the Executive Branch creates through its agencies (FDA, EPA, CDC, etc.) to explain how the law must work, in full detail. The regulations under this law explain a lot. Illustration shows the difference between a law (“you must do this!”) and a regulation (“This is how we will do this. Our tactic could change with each new president.”)

The text says, “The federal powers in this law include the ability to require quarantine or isolation.*” *The law itself doesn’t use those words. The illustration shows a person who was possibly exposed to the disease, wondering “Will I get sick” and sitting in a box called “quarantine.” On the right is another person inside a box, infected with the disease, looking sick, and noted to be in “Isolation.”

The text says, “It’s the CDC that must enforce this law and its regulations.” The illustration shows the Surgeon General passing the law (a scroll) and the regulations (a pile of papers) to the anthropomorphic CDC. The Surgeon General is saying, “Here, you’re in charge of this” while the CDC is saying, “You got it, dude.”

The text says, “If someone is detained and put in quarantine or isolation, the CDC must ‘arrange for’ adequate food and water, appropriate accommodation, appropriate medical treatment, means of necessary communication.” An illustration above each of these criteria is shown.

The text says, “If the CDC determines that a State’s response is ‘insufficient to prevent the spread’ of the disease to another state, only then may it intervene and act within that state.” The illustration shows the state of Minnesota holding a spray bottle while swirly disease wafts out of it onto Wisconsin. Minnesota is saying “Bubonic plague? Just put some Windex on it!” Wisconsin is saying, “Help! It’s MN’s Fault. The CDC, what hands on hips, says, “MN! You’re endangering your neighbors! I’m coming in!”

The text says, “So there you go. What are the federal quarantine powers? They cover more than just quarantine and are limited to activity crossing state or international borders.” The illustration shows the same images from the cover page: The CDC, a person in isolation, a person in quarantine, and someone watching the borders.

Sources (law reviews don’t use drawings so these drawings aren’t using Bluebook format…keeping things fair over here):

Constitution: Commerce Clause, Article 1, Section 9 of U.S. Constitution
Federal Law: Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, aka 42 USC 264.

Federal Regulations:
42 CFR 70.1-70.18 (Interstate Quarantine)
42 CFR 71.1-71.63 (Foreign Quarantine)

Secondary sources:
CDC website (original source appears to have been deleted, perhaps in 2025 by new admin).

And, if you’re curious about some fascinating history of yellow fever shotgun quarantines in the late 1800s American South, check out “Epidemics, Outsiders, and Local Protection: Federalism Theater in the era of the Shotgun Quarantine” by Polly J. Price. If you’re not into legal analysis, just read the beginning.