In a closely watched case on its emergency docket, a sharply divided Supreme Court issued an order on Tuesday night that keeps Title 42 in place for the next few months. In the meantime, the justices will give further consideration to a plea by 24 states that the provision be maintained until such time, if ever, as the federal government addresses the ongoing border catastrophe.
“Title 42” is shorthand for a federal statute — specifically, section 265 of Title 42, U.S. Code — which empowers the government to close our borders to non-Americans due to a communicable-disease emergency. In this instance of course, that “emergency” is the Covid-19 pandemic, even though it long ago ceased to be a true emergency, having passed on to the endemic stage. (At this point, nearly three years after its early-2020 emergence, Covid has become a disease that, like influenza, will be with us for the foreseeable future. It can be dangerous for some demographics — particularly the elderly and those with certain comorbidities — but it was already under control over a year ago, as evidenced by this typically thorough analysis by Jim Geraghty from October 2021).
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