Public Health Law Map - Beta 5 - Medical and Public Health Law Site

actions through the district attorney’s office. These offices are so buried under crimes
such as murder that it is impossible to get timely assistance with public health orders.
II. Organization of the Legal System
The United States has 50 state legal systems and one federal legal system, and each
system has three major subdivisions. Individual public health practitioners have to be
aware of the laws of the state they practice in and the federal laws applicable to their
practice. National programs must deal with federal rules and the laws of every state they
does business in. What is most surprising to a layperson is that these state laws can be
dramatically different, with some states criminalizing what other states encourage.
A. Federalism
The American legal system was shaped during the period when the colonies were
governed by England. Each of the original 13 colonies had its own government and
colonial governor and answered independently to the Crown. With the Declaration of
Independence, they became separate nations with complete control over their legal
affairs. They first joined together under the Articles of Confederation to fight the
Revolutionary War. This was a very weak federation because the colonies did not want
to give up any of their powers. They came close to losing the war because the central
government could not force the individual colonies to provide troops and supplies.
This experience caused the colonies to realize that they could not stand against the
European powers without a stronger central government. The result was the U.S.
Constitution, in which the federal government was given the power to deal with
foreign governments and to resolve disputes between the states. The states retained
many powers, including the right to run their state governments with only limited
interference from the federal government. Although the federal government has
inexorably increased its power at the expense of the states, the states still retain
substantial power, especially in regard to public health delivery.
B. Checks and Balances
The founders were very concerned that the president not become a king. To prevent
this, they divided the federal government into three branches with overlapping
authority. Their intention was that each branch would need to cooperate with the
others, and that a single branch could not become too powerful because the other
branches would check its grab for power. These three branches are the legislative
branch (Congress), the executive branch (President), and the judicial branch (Supreme
Court). The state governments generally have the same organizational structure,
although some states make one branch of the government much stronger than the
others. Whereas this section focuses on the federal system, the same principles apply to
the states.
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