Elizabeth Wydra, chief counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center who believes the mandate is constitutional, said [Justice] Kennedy is unlikely to believe the argument made by the 26 states..."If he applies precedent, he'll feel comfortable that both the minimum coverage provision is constitutional under the Commerce Clause power based on precedent like Raich and not fall into the trap that many opponents of the act have set: that if you uphold the minimum coverage provision, there will be no limits on the Commerce Clause power," Wydra said.
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February, 2012
February 28, 2012
Critics say that’s not his only overreach. Doug Kendall, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a Washington group that calls the Constitution a “progressive” document, said Lee highlights portions that support his philosophy while seeking to alter or reinterpret elsewhere in the document....“His very career has depended upon politicizing the Constitution.”
February 26, 2012
In the friend of the court brief, the legislators argue “that it clearly respects the federal-state partnership on health care and that any attempt to reverse the law belongs in the political arena, not in the courts.”
The legislators are with the Working Group of State Legislators for Health Reform in conjunction with the Constitutional Accountability Center and Progressive States Network.
February 23, 2012
In an amicus brief, 539 largely Democratic state legislators affiliated with the Working Group of State Legislators for Health Reform, and in partnership with the Constitutional Accountability Center and the Progressive States Network, outlined their legal defense of the Medicaid expansion.
February 23, 2012
The fate of President Barack Obama’s health-care law may hinge on the administration’s ability to enlist an unlikely ally: Justice Antonin Scalia, the pillar of the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative wing.
February 22, 2012
“I think it is a bit of a gamble, but they could be hoping for more persuasive dissents,” Elizabeth Wydra, chief counsel for the Constitutional Accountability Center, said. “Whether it’s before the en banc 9th Circuit or the Supreme Court, I think their arguments ultimately are going to lose.”
February 15, 2012
It also quotes Elizabeth Wydra of the Constitutional Accountability Center as saying the case was unrelated to the current challenges and that "The arguments are, frankly, looking a little desperate."
February 14, 2012
The thrust of the recent commentary on [marriage equality case] Perry [v. Brown] portrays the ruling as unprincipled, an attempt to manufacture a narrow ruling without any basis in law. But Justice Kennedy's opinions show otherwise.
Senators Vote Overwhelmingly to End Filibuster of Judicial Nominee, Blasting Conduct as ‘Ridiculous’
February 13, 2012
But as the Constitutional Accountability Center’s Judith Schaeffer points out in a post for Text & History Blog, Lee is far from the only senator responsible for Senate obstruction and “he should not be the only one feeling the heat.”
February 12, 2012
On February 12, 2012, CAC's chief counsel Elizabeth Wydra appeared on Fox News' America's News HQ with Shannon Bream to explain the constitutionality of the health care reform law that is currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court.
February 11, 2012
Neil Weare, policy counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center in the District, suggested that D.C. residents and residents of territories like Puerto Rico and Mr. Weare's native Guam should work together in pushing for congressional representation and voting rights.
The District "and U.S. territories are really more alike than they are different, and working together would help make this a more bipartisan issue," Mr. Weare wrote in an email.
February 6, 2012
The current nationwide health care crisis, which involves close to 20 percent of the U.S. economy, is exactly the sort of problem the founders would have wanted the federal government to solve under the powers given to Congress by the Constitution. The Affordable Care Act addresses issues of national concern — involving the states as partners but offering federal mechanisms of reform where necessary.
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Articles & Commentary
Arizona's "Show Me Your Papers" Law Gets Its Day in Court -- and Congress
Huffington Post
April 24, 2012
Elizabeth B. Wydra
The Constitution Settles It
New York Times
April 23, 2012
Elizabeth B. Wydra
Who Really Represents the States in the Health Care Cases?
The Huffington Post
March 27, 2012
Elizabeth B. Wydra
Founding Fathers Would Approve of National Healthcare Policy
US News & World Report
March 26, 2012
Elizabeth B. Wydra
Precedents Support This Law
New York Times
March 26, 2012
Elizabeth B. Wydra
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Posts from Text & History
April 30, 2012