Court Decisions Demonstrate Need for Public Health Economy

Public Health Liberation (PHL) is a membership nonprofit organization that seeks to accelerate health equity through understanding and affecting the Public Health Economy. There exist two major distinct but interdependent economies - the traditional growth economy and the Public Health Economy. The concept of the Public Health Economy is intended to broaden our view of the structural determinants of health through practice-based learning and transdisciplinary synthesis.1 The inaugural PHL manuscript characterized fundamental features of the Public Health Economy. PHL members represent communities of practice that would most benefit from better performance in this economy. A radical reconceptualization of public health theory-building, training, and research is warranted.

Recently, PHL members gathered in solemn reflection upon the Court's sweeping decisions on reproductive rights, affirmative action, treatment of LGBTQ+ populations, and the Bruen decision in 2022. We are experiencing many heightened fears about our short- and long-term health, safety, and liberty. Chief among them are the diminishing educational and employment opportunities for disadvantaged families of all backgrounds and the immediate health effects on women, particularly women of color. Social division, national disunity, and false narratives on colorblindness are disconcerting. The role of the Dred Scott decision in 1857 is instructive of the potential course of the nation. Ideological purity, gun violence, and eroding constitutional protections pose grave threats to the Republic and the Public Health Economy.