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Speaking Points
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The Jacobson case is
perhaps the most familiar reference of the police power by the United States
Supreme Court.
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This case originated in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the turn of the 20th century, where
smallpox vaccination was being administered by the Cambridge Board of Health
during an outbreak. Mr. Jacobson
challenged the town’s compulsory vaccination on grounds that it violated
certain of his constitutional rights.
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The highest court in
Massachusetts, and then the U.S. Supreme Court, in this case upheld
compulsory vaccination as an exercise of the state’s police power, as
delegated to the local board of health here, citing such elements as its:
public health necessity, reasonable means, and proportionality.
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