No, I’m not talking about the Paraguayan political party. During much of the last two decades, various gun control advocates, Democratic partisans, and hard-rightists have claimed that the National Rifle Association of America was really just part of the Republican political machine. “NRA” really stood for “National Republican Association,” they said. Some typical examples of the claim: The 2006 book Foxes in […]
Archive | 2010
More on the Necessary and Proper Clause and the Health Care Mandate
By Ilya Somin on October 6, 2010 2:22 pm in Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper
Orin has replied to my post explaining why current Supreme Court doctrine doesn’t support the constitutionality of the Obamacare individual mandate under the Necessary and Proper Clause. He makes three points that I will briefly answer. First, Orin suggests that current Supreme Court doctrine gives a broad interpretation of the word “proper” in the Clause. […]
More on the Constitutionality of the Individual Mandate
I appreciate Ilya’s reply to my post on the constitutionality of the individual mandate. Three points in response: 1) Ilya suggests that the Supreme Court has never answered what makes legislation “proper,” and he suggests a first-principles argument for why there may be limits on what is “proper” that would permit the Supreme Court to […]
Sad to Say, We Jews Don’t Control the Media After All
Slate‘s Explainer has the data. At least we are disproportionately represented behind the scenes in Hollywood. And of course we dominate the all-important Volokh Conspiracy.
Necessary and Proper Clause Doctrine and the Individual Mandate
By Ilya Somin on October 6, 2010 4:25 am in Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper
In a recent post, co-blogger Orin Kerr outlines what has become the standard argument that the Obama health care plan’s individual mandate is authorized by the Necessary and Proper Clause. The claim is that the goal of the legislation is to regulate commerce in health insurance (which, under current doctrine, is a permissible end under […]
Some Tentative Thoughts on the Constitutionality of the Individual Mandate Under Current Supreme Court Doctrine
I haven’t blogged any detailed thoughts on the constitutionality of the individual mandate, as I’m not an expert in the Commerce Clause or the Necessary and Proper Clause. But I’ve been pondering some of the issues, and I have some tentative thoughts on the constitutionality of the mandate based on current Supreme Court doctrine that […]
Why Oh Why Can’t We Have Better EconProf Bloggers?
Would you consider it sound for one academic to attack a paper written by another, calling it (among other things) “obviously erroneous” and “simply stupid,” based upon a third-party representation of what it says? And would you consider it responsible to use the third-party representation of said paper as Exhibit A for questioning why the […]
Documentary About Adjusting to Life After Prison
About a year ago, I purchased a copy of Goro Toshima’s excellent documentary, A Hard Straight, on the challenges convicts face re-adjusting to life on the outside after their prison terms have ended. Toshima has now posted a 15-minute excerpt of the documentary that you can watch here. Important stuff.
Whistlefritz Spanish for Kids:
I know a lot of people (myself included) are keen for their kids to be exposed to foreign language from a young age. If you are in that category, you might be interested in the Whistlefritz dvd and cd Spanish language immersion dvds and cds. They are really quite delightful and engaging. Claire is 5 […]
Ninth Circuit Smackdown Watch
Lawrence Hurley of the Daily Journal reports that fully one-third of the cases on the Court’s docket thus far this term — 18 of 54 — are from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. (Hat tip: How Appealing) Given that the Supreme Court is a bit more likely to reverse than to affirm, […]
Petition of the Day
I was pleased to see that SCOTUSblog listed my certiorari petition in Herrera v. Oregon as one of the three petitions of the day for today.
Blumenthal vs. McMahon
Interesting race in Connecticut. One candidate’s adult life has been spent in a profession in which testosterone-infused alpha male types engage in well-choreographed bombast for the benefit of the credulous masses. And the other has spent her career in professional wrestling.
Gonzales v. Raich and the Individual Mandate
By Ilya Somin on October 5, 2010 1:10 am in Commerce Clause, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate
The Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Gonzales v. Raich ruled that Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce gives it the power to ban possession of medical marijuana that had never crossed state lines or been sold in any market anywhere. It was easily the broadest-ever Supreme Court interpretation of the Commerce Clause. When I first […]
The ACA Litigation Blog
Those of our readers interested in the litigation over the Obama health care plan should check out University of Santa Clara lawprof Brad Joondeph’s extremely helpful ACA Litigation blog. Joondeph has performed a valuable public service by making all the many briefs, documents, and motions in the Florida and Virginia health care cases available in […]
A Generation of Roberts v. Kagan?
Jan Crawford ends her interesting report on Elena Kagan’s first day on the bench, linked to by Jonathan Adler below, with this comment: If you’re a liberal who hopes [Kagan] will be an intellectual force who builds coalitions, you had to like what you saw. And if you’re a conservative, you had reasons to feel […]