Associate Dean Amar Publishes Op-ed on Supreme Court Obamacare Hearings on Justia.com

Vikram Amar, Associate Dean and Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law, has published an op-ed on the recent U.S. Supreme Court arguments concerning the Affordable Care Act on Justia.com. 

The article, which draws heavily on a law review article Professor Amar wrote last year and which expands on a piece Amar recently co-authored with Professor Alan Brownstein and published in the Los Angeles Times and other media, addresses a concern voiced by some justices to the effect that the Act's requirement that individuals purchase health insurance could send constitutional doctrine down a "slippery slope" toward unchecked government power. Amar contends that very similar dangers have existed in Commerce Clause jurisprudence, and other aspects of the Constitution, for decades, and that the Court has shown it has the tools to address them. 

"There is no persuasive basis for thinking that the individual mandate will create a steeper or more slippery slope--one that is less susceptible to judicial or political handholds and footholds--than those hazards we live with under current doctrine," Amar writes.

Vikram Amar is a national authority in the fields of Constitutional Law, Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Remedies. His biweekly column for Justia.com, a leading provider of online legal information, centers on his expertise in Constitutional Law.

Justia.com column: "The High Court Needn't Worry About Sliding Downhill"