There are tons of sweet images of an empty Boston from last Friday - and some are having a field day debating the wisdom of locking the city down - but the bombers were found and either caught or killed, so the lockdown served its purpose. After the final arrest, the city celebrated, so the move seems to have received support.
Nevertheless, it is one of the more unique examples of police power in a major city in recent memory. We had to face something similar after Hurricane Ike and a 7pm curfew was imposed on Houston. It wasn't strictly enforced, but it was largely followed. And driving through a dark, empty city was eerie.
As we begin to review for the final and think about the consent of the governed, and how this manifests itself, it might be worth thinking about this as one of the more unusual examples.
