The coronavirus crisis and our constitutional rights

Americans always lose some constitutional rights during a crisis.
Such infringements fall into three categories. The most egregious examples generate near-uniform disdain, but usually only once a crisis passes, and with the benefit of hindsight. Examples include President Franklin Roosevelt’s internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, or Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s actions during the Red Scare. With more subtle losses of civil liberties during a crisis, the risk is that rights