A notice on the website for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit announces that the three-judge panel to hear the appeal in Thomas More Law Center v. Obama, another challenge to the constitutionality of the individual mandate, will consist of Circuit Judges Boyce F. Martin, Jr. and Jeffrey S. Sutton, and District Court […]
Archive | Federalism
Feds Continue to Target Medical Marijuana Distribution
In 2009, the Obama Administration announced a new federal policy regarding marijuana in states in which medical marijuana has been legalized. The policy statement instructed federal prosecutors not to devote federal resources to prosecuting those who use or supply medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law. At the time, Ilya and I praised the […]
My Jurist Article on Why the Individual Health Care Mandate is Unconstitutional
By Ilya Somin on May 4, 2011 11:08 am in Commerce Clause, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper
The Jurist has posted my article on “Why the Individual Health Care Mandate is Unconstitutional.” The format allowed me to lay out the case against all three of the federal government’s rationales for the law more fully than in any previous popular press publication. Here’s an excerpt: Twenty-eight states and several private groups have now […]
Misquoted in USA Today
By Ilya Somin on April 14, 2011 8:33 pm in Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Media, Press
One of the dangers of commenting on hot-button legal issues is that reporters will sometimes misquote you. That happened to me in today’s front-page USA Today story on the individual mandate litigation by prominent legal reporter Joan Biskupic, which cited me as follows: George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin argued at a recent forum […]
Amherst College Debate on the Individual Mandate
This Tuesday at 7:30 PM, I will be returning to my alma mater, Amherst College, to debate the constitutionality of the Obama health care plan individual mandate. Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute will be joining me in arguing that the mandate is unconstitutional. Our opponents will be Akhil Amar of Yale Law School and […]
Multiculturalism (of an Important Sort) as an American Constitutional Value
By Eugene Volokh on March 31, 2011 10:13 am in Federalism, Freedom of Speech, Parental Rights, Religious Freedom
I have a piece on this in National Review Online today (based on a 2008 post). Here are the opening paragraphs: People talk a lot about “multiculturalism,” whether to praise it or condemn it. But standing alone, the concept is too vague to be supported or opposed. In this respect, it’s much like certain other […]
Justice Kennedy, the Individual Mandate, and the Broccoli Question
In The New Republic Purdue University political science professor Frank J. Colucci, author of Justice Kennedy’s Jurisprudence: The Full and Necessary Meaning of Liberty, ponders whether Justice Kennedy will vote to uphold the individual mandate. Colucci writes: The question of the individual mandate’s constitutionality is closely tied to two competing values that Kennedy believes in deeply: a […]
Criticizing the Obama Administration for Obeying the Law?
Here is a strange piece in the Washington Times by editorial writer Kerry Picket criticizing the Department of Justice because it willl only investigate bullying cases if the victim is considered protected under the 1964 Civil Rights legislation. In essence, only discrimination against a victim’s race, sex, national origin, disability, or religion will be considered […]
Federal Overreach on AZ Shootings
A federal grand jury has indicted Jared Loughner, the crazed gunman who shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords among others, on a whopping 49 counts. Why so many? Because federal prosecutors are trying out a new theory that would enable them to prosecute Loughner not only for shooting Giffords, her staff, and a federal judge, but also […]
Upcoming Debates on the Individual Mandate Litigation
This week, I will participating in not one but two panels on the individual mandate litigation. The first will be at the Brookings Institution on Wednesday, March 2, where I will be joined by David Rivkin (counsel for the states in the 26 state anti-mandate lawsuit), and also by former acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger […]
The DC District Court Decision Upholding the Constitutionality of the Individual Mandate
By Ilya Somin on February 23, 2011 12:40 am in Commerce Clause, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Necessary and Proper
The recent District of Columbia federal trial court decision upholding the individual mandate breaks little new ground and has many of the same weaknesses as the two previous district court decisions that went the same way. Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the mandate is a legitimate exercise of Congress’ power under the Commerce Clause because […]
Whitewashing Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy
The New York Times has an article on yesterday’s celebration of the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of Jefferson Davis as president of the Confederacy: Before a cheering crowd of several hundred men and women, some in period costume and others in crisp suits, an amateur actor playing Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president […]
The Compact Clause vs. the Multistate Tobacco Cartel
Over at Balkinization, guest blogger Michael Greve offers an excellent post explaining the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s pending cert. petition in a case challenging the tobacco cartel. In short, the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement for the lawsuits initiated by some state Attorneys General against the largest tobacco companies is a violation of the Compacts Clause. Article […]
Federalism and Tort Reform
By Orin Kerr on February 13, 2011 7:43 pm in Commerce Clause, Federalism, Torts, Voting With Your Feet
Cornell lawprof William Jacobson detects a potential contradiction in Republican politicians’ view on constitutional federalism [HT: Steve Bainbridge]. Many of them claim that the Obamacare individual mandate falls outside of Congress’ power, but simultaneously support federally mandated tort reform that would override state tort law: If we are against the federal government forcing us to […]
Upcoming Debate on the Constitutionality of the Individual Mandate
By Ilya Somin on February 7, 2011 3:00 am in American Constitution Society, Federalism, Health Care, Individual Mandate
For those who may be interested, I will be debating the constitutionality of the Obama health care plan individual mandate with Simon Lazarus of the National Senior Citizens’ Law Center on Tuesday night at 7 PM. The debate will be held at the George Mason University Arlington campus, in Founders Hall, Room 134. The debate […]