Readers in the southern California area may be interested to know that, tomorrow, I will be debating the constitutionality of the health care bill on KPCC’s Air Talk program at 2 PM eastern time, 11 AM Pacific time. At this point, I am told that my opponent will be Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the UC Irvine Law School. It’s possible that the station will choose a different opponent for me if he can’t make it.
For Dean Chemerinsky’s take on the issues, see here. For my own views, see here, here and here. Chemerinsky and I previously debated the role of “empathy” in judicial decisionmaking in this LA Times forum.
We had a relatively rare moment of agreement back in 2007 when I criticized UC Irvine’s decision to rescind his appointment as dean on the supposed grounds that having him in that position might offend conservatives (Irvine later reversed its decision and reinstated him). I doubt that there will be similar accord in this instance, and I expect that Chemerinsky will, as usual, do an excellent job of presenting his side of this important debate.
UPDATE: As I turns, my opponent in the debate was Professor Vik Amar of UC Davis. Dean Chemerinsky couldn’t make it. I think we did as well as we could in airing the major arguments for both sides in the limited time available. A tape of the debate should eventually be available on the Air Talk website, though I don’t know exactly when it will be posted.