My comment on today’s decision, granting the motion to dismiss on some counts, and while allowing other counts to proceed. Like Randy’s comment, my comment is posted on the blog of the site Health Care Lawsuits, which is hosted by the Independent Women’s Forum. The court entirely rejected the administration’s claim that the penalty for disobeying […]
Archive | Congress
Insider Trading on Capitol Hill
The WSJ has an investigative report in Monday’s paper showing extensive buying and selling of stocks by Congressional staffers who work for members of Congress with jurisdiction over the traded companies. The Journal analysis showed that an aide to a Republican member of the Senate Banking Committee bought Bank of America Corp. stock before results […]
NRA Supports Pro-Gun Democrats, and Many Democrats Support the Second Amendment
Earlier this week, I wrote that NRA would be foolish obey the wishes of Republican activists who want the NRA to endorse only Republicans, and especially to not endorse endangered House Democrats. Here are some data on NRA endorsements, and some of the actions that dozens of House Democrats have taken to merit their endorsements: NRA Senate endorsements in […]
Gun Rights and the 2010 Senate Elections
That’s the topic of my article in yesterday’s edition of The New Ledger. Bottom line: in the Venn diagram, Republican gains and pro-Second Amendment gains sometimes overlap, but not always. New Hampshire, West Virginia, Indiana, North Dakota are guaranteed gains for Second Amendment supporters, regardless of which party wins. The most important races, from a right to […]
The Bernardine Dohrn of the early 20th century: The terrorist professor at U of Texas law school
By David Kopel on May 24, 2010 3:56 pm in Academia, Congress, Constitutional History, Counter-Terrorism Policy, Criminal Law, Economic LIberties, Education, Guns, History, Law Schools, Legal Professor, Militia, Rehabilitating Lochner
My DU colleague Thomas Russell, who used to teach at the University of Texas Law school, has a written a paper, available on SSRN, which urges the University of Texas Law School to rename Simkins Hall, a law and graduate male student dormitory named for William Stewart Simkins. Simkins taught equity, contracts, procedure, and related topics at UT for […]
Debate on constitutionality of Obamacare
By David Kopel on April 30, 2010 1:03 am in Congress, Constitutional History, Economic LIberties, Federalism, Health Care, Supreme Court
Held on April 28 at the University of Colorado law school, under the sponsorship of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado. Arguing in favor of constitutionality was Jean Dubofsky, former Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. Arguing the other side was me. The video is here. (Video and audio are often out of sync […]
Bloggers can’t agree on anything about fiscal commission, or political impact of Wall Street bill
This week’s National Journal poll of political bloggers asked about the impact of the Wall Street reform issue on the midterm elections. Ninety-four percent of the Left bloggers thought that it would help Democrats a lot or a little. The Left was evenly divided between expecting the issue to hurt Republicans a little, or to have […]
Bloggers agree: Little chance for immigration bill, and they hate the VAT
“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says ‘we’re going to have comprehensive immigration reform now.’ Top political bloggers don’t see it.” So begins the National Journal’s write-up of this week’s blogger poll. Seventy percent of the Left and 78% of the Right called enactment of a comprehensive bill either “very” or “somewhat” unlikely. I was in […]
Did Congress Understand the Health Bill It Passed?
Today’s New York Times presents evidence that it did not. It is often said that the new health care law will affect almost every American in some way. And, perhaps fittingly if unintentionally, no one may be more affected than members of Congress themselves.In a new report, the Congressional Research Service says the law may […]
President Makes Fifteen Recess Appointments
President Obama made fifteen recess appointments today, including two to the National Labor Relations Board and four to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Embattled Justice Department nominee Dawn Johnsen was not on the list. These were the President’s first recess appointments of his term, and if not confirmed by the Senate, they will be eligible […]
Is the tax power infinite?
By David Kopel on March 22, 2010 8:05 pm in Commerce Clause, Congress, Constitutional History, Economic LIberties, Federalism, Guns, Health Care, Necessary and Proper, Politics, Supreme Court, Taxes
One source of the impending constitutional challenge to the Obamacare mandate is that exceeds the enumerated powers granted to Congress under Article I, section 8. For example, that the people’s grant to power to Congress to regulate commerce among the several states does not include the power to compel people to engage in commerce. Jack […]
The Stupak Solution?
On Friday, Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) announced the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration had awarded nearly three-quarters of a million dollars to three Michigan airports to fund maintenance and improvement projects. Given the apparent consensus that the President’s Executive Order on abortion funding gave Rep. Stupak relatively little of what he sought on […]
A Constitutional Slaughter Solution?
Yale’s Jack Balkin is now convinced that Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have found a constitutional way to combine passage of the Senate health care reform bill with revisions to be passed as part of a reconciliation process. In a letter to House Rules Committee Chair Louise Slaughter (reproduced here) Balkin writes: Under […]
Bloggers: Both side critical of party chairs. Disagree somewhat, but not entirely, on health care chances, and Obama as a one-term President
This week, the National Journal poll of political bloggers moves to a new spot on the NJ website, “The Hotline Blogometer.” Besides the weekly poll, the Blogometer contains a daily report on what leading liberal and conservative political bloggers are writing about the controversies of the moment. In this week’s poll, bloggers were asked “On […]
Does Marshall Field v. Clark Preclude a Challenge to “Deem and Pass”?
Is a constitutional challenge to the use of “deem and pass” to enact health care reform precluded by the Supreme Court’s 1892 decision in Marshall Field & Co. v. Clark? In that decision, the Supreme Court held that federal courts must accept the certification of the presiding officers of the House and Senate that a […]