Glenn Reynolds’ Washington Examiner column offers some Modest proposals to help the new Congress survive and America to thrive including this part: Finally, and most importantly, don’t forget that these are serious times. In the 1990s, America was able to fool itself into believing that we had reached the end of history, that the tough […]
Author Archive | Randy Barnett
The New York Times On Fire!
Not literally, of course. But coverage by New York Times reporters of the health care lawsuits and the Repeal Amendment has been extraordinarily fair and balanced. Here is an excellent story by Kevin Sack today on the Necessary & Proper Clause issues raised by the health care challenge. And here is a straight journalistic account […]
“Sleep Less, Think More” at the IHS Summer Seminars
Applications for the Institute for Humane Studies Summer Seminars are now being accepted. If you are a student with an interest in liberty, take advantage of these wonderful seminars. While still a prosecutor in the Cook County States Attorney’s office, I lectured in one of these seminars in 1980, the very first year they were […]
Why the Medicaid Mandates on States Violate the General Welfare Clause
My new op-ed in Monday’s Wall Street Journal with Mercer law professor David Oedel, ObamaCare and the General Welfare Clause, explains why the new Medicaid mandates imposed on the states suffer from the same General Welfare Clause problem as did the Cornhusker Kickback: Remember the Cornhusker Kickback? In a frantic effort to move ObamaCare through […]
10 Best Legal Shows in TV History
The Criminal Justice Degrees Program has posted its 10 Best Legal Shows in TV History, along with YouTube clips from each show. In tenth place it lists what I believe to be the best lawyer show of all time: The Defenders, starring E.G. Marshall and Robert Reed: The Defenders was a successful courtroom drama series […]
Cato and My Amicus Brief in Sixth Circuit
On Wednesday, the Cato Institute and I filed an amicus brief in the lawsuit brought by the Thomas More Law Center. (This is the complaint dismissed by District Court Judge Steeh prior to District Court Judge Hudson finding the individual mandate to be unconstitutional.) In our brief, we describe the existing doctrine governing the Necessary […]
New York Time Story on the Repeal Amendment
Monday’s New York Times contains a remarkably fair and balanced story about the Repeal Amendment: Amendment Would Enable States to Repeal Federal Law. Here is a portion: Under the proposed “repeal amendment,” any federal law or regulation could be repealed if the legislatures of two-thirds of the states voted to do so. The idea has […]
The University of Hawaii Marching Band Kicks Off
This is awesome: h/t Laura Barnett and Jonathan Turley
My Appearance on C*SPAN’s Washington Journal
By Randy Barnett on December 19, 2010 4:47 pm in Commerce Clause, Constitutional Law, Health Care, Uncategorized
Here is my discussion of the constitutionality of the individual mandate with Simon Lazarus on C*SPAN’s Washington Journal this morning: I was a little frustrated with the format. Lazarus, who is a perfectly nice man, was able to make long speech-like points, but because the host then moved to a phone call or tweet without […]
“Rich Bully” Lee Bollinger “is Getting His Way”
The takings clause reads “nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.” When Kelo v. City of New London upheld the power of takings for economic development, many used the political backlash to that decision as a vindication of “judicial restraint.” See, we were told, this sort of dispute should be […]
The Doctrinal Limits of “Necessary” in the Necessary & Proper Clause
A couple days ago, Orin raised an interesting point about Justice Judge Hudson’s opinion in the challenge to the Affordable Care Act to which Kurt Lash and Jonathan have already responded. But I thought I would explain the source of the confusion, which lies not in Judge Hudson’s opinion, but in Chief Justice Rehnquist’s opinion […]
Kurt Lash on Judge Hudson and the Necessary and Proper Clause
My friend, University of Illinois law professor Kurt Lash, has written a comment on yesterday’s decision by Judge Hudson that was inspired by Orin’s critique. I am happy to post it here on his behalf. Critics of Judge Henry E. Hudson’s decision invalidating the health insurance mandate have accused him of failing to consider the […]
White House Concedes Individual Mandate is Not Severable
Observers are anticipating a decision on the motion for summary judgment by Judge Henry Hudson in the Virginia AG’s challenge to the Affordable Care Act soon, perhaps next week — and perhaps in advance of Thursday morning’s oral arguments on the summary judgment motion in the 20 AG lawsuit in Florida. I will be attending […]
The Abolitionist Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment
After receiving comments from a number of people, and an insightful critical peer review report from an anonymous reviewer for Harvard’s Journal of Legal Analysis where it will appear next year, I have now posted to SSRN a substantially-revised version of my paper, Whence Comes Section One? The Abolitionist Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment (which […]
Congratulations to Josh Blackman & His Blog
The most recent issue of the ABA Journal includes its 4th Annual listing of “Our 100 Favorite Blawgs.” (You can vote for your 12 favorites if you register.) Included in the “Court Watch” category is Josh Blackman’s Blog. Here is what they say: Josh Blackman’s Blog is an almost daily fix for constitutional la junkies. […]