While policymakers, legislators, and scientists have been in the front line in designing the institutional and regulatory framework of the preparedness strategy, the role of courts has emerged as a vital component of the institutional response to the challenges brought by the current pandemic. Not only have courts overseen statutory legislation and administrative acts to assess their conformity with constitutional norms and the rule of law, but, on a more substantive level, have also acted as custodians of fundamental rights, ensuring the right balance between conflicting ones.
This article introduces a section of Legal Policy and Pandemics, the new Global Pandemic Network Journal, devoted to litigation with a view to addressing a possible need for inter-institutional cooperation and establish an ideal dialogue among courts and policymakers of different world regions facing similar issues in the context of the current pandemic.
Moving from a comparative analysis of some of the decisions taken by courts in the first year of the pandemic, a research agenda is proposed, mainly looking at the impact of the health and economic crises upon the effective protection of fundamental rights and freedoms and their reciprocal balancing. Future contributions will feed this debate. These will provide comparative analyses across different world regions, and show to what extent some of the changes brought by the pandemic will remain as drivers for new balancing of rights.