The jurisprudence of universal subjectivity: COVID-19, vulnerability and housing. Issue 3 (September 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jobe, Kevin Scott
• Other Names: Fineman Martha Albertson guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: International journal of discrimination and the law. Volume 21:Issue 3(2021)
• Page Start: 254
• Page End: 271
• Publication Date: 2021-09
• Subjects: Vulnerability -- housing -- COVID -- constitutional -- Fineman; Discrimination -- Law and legislation -- Periodicals; 342.085
• DOI: 10.1177/13582291211032843
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1358-2291

Abstract

Drawing upon Martha Fineman's vulnerability theory, the paper argues that the legal claims of homeless appellants before and during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrate our universal vulnerability which stems from the essential, life-sustaining activities flowing from the ontological status of the human body. By recognizing that housing availability has constitutional significance because it provides for life-sustaining activities such as sleeping, eating and lying down, I argue that the legal rationale reviewed in the paper underscores the empirical, ontological reality of the body as the basis for a jurisprudence of universal vulnerability. By tracing the constitutional basis of this jurisprudence from Right to Travel to Eighth Amendment grounds during COVID-19, the paper outlines a distinct legal paradigm for understanding vulnerability in its universal, constant and essential form – one of the central premises of vulnerability theory.