Video Number 14

 Just so you know, video 14 is in two parts. Part 1 goes until about the 43 minute mark. I walk off but then come back and do part 2. When it was edited, the editor just combined two parts into 1 big part. But we will be discussing the entire video 14 (both parts) tomorrow.

Judge Barrett

 If you would like to read Judge Amy Barrett's judicial philosophy, here she is in her own words

 

I am not assigning this; it is just in case you are interested.

Me on TV

 

So, I am in this Vox documentary airing on Netflix Monday Sept. 28. I made the promo, but I don't know how much of my comments they will use in the actual picture. My views on electoral federalism are not the same as Vox's, so they may wish to minimize my contributions. Still, Leo DiCaprio is also in this film and he and I have been hanging out. 

Here is the promo: Link

Week of September 28 thru October 2: Assignments and Zoom Schedule

  Class Video Links:

 

Video 13

 https://unl.box.com/s/kwxqcxh6o0jcmup2by25sva8hihc1gc5

 

Video 14

https://unl.box.com/s/cxkd0l9jycot22fcsdrpi6i2qvuudlz5

  

Zoom schedule:

 Wednesday September 30 @ 5 PM (video 13) (9. Casebook p. 149-186)

A thru C on call

 

Thursday October 1 @5 PM (video 14) (10. Casebook p.186-203; South Dakota v. Dole (link); Rotunda, The Spending Clause (link))

 D thru F on call

Roberts on Federalism in Sebelius

Right out of the box, Chief Justice Roberts made several points that summarize the Constitution’s structural landscape. It is a treatise on the limited power of the national government and the Constitution’s protection of we the people and democratic self-government in the states. Let me just quote some of the highlights of the Chief’s eloquent ode to limited government, federalism, and liberty.

1. “In our federal system, the National Government possesses only limited powers; the States and the people retain the remainder.”

2. “The Federal Government “is acknowledged by all to be one of enumerated powers.”  That is, rather than granting general authority to perform all the conceivable functions of government, the Constitution lists, or enumerates, the Federal Government's powers. Congress may, for example, “coin Money,” “establish Post Offices,” and “raise and support Armies.” Art. I, § 8, cls. 5, 7, 12. The enumeration of powers is also a limitation of powers, because “[t]he enumeration presupposes something not enumerated.” Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 195, 6 L.Ed. 23 (1824). The Constitution's express conferral of some powers makes clear that it does not grant others. And the Federal Government “can exercise only the powers granted to it.” McCulloch, supra, at 405.”

3. “If no enumerated power authorizes Congress to pass a certain law, that law may not be enacted, even if it would not violate any of the express prohibitions in the Bill of Rights or elsewhere in the Constitution.”

4. “The same does not apply to the States, because the Constitution is not the source of their power. The Constitution may restrict state governments—as it does, for example, by forbidding them to deny any person the equal protection of the laws. But where such prohibitions do not apply, state governments do not need constitutional authorization to act. The States thus can and do perform many of the vital functions of modern government—punishing street crime, running public schools, and zoning property for development, to name but a few—even though the Constitution's text does not authorize any government to do so. Our cases refer to this general power of governing, possessed by the States but not by the Federal Government, as the ‘police power.’”

5. “State sovereignty is not just an end in itself: Rather, federalism secures to citizens the liberties that derive from the diffusion of sovereign power.” Because the police power is controlled by 50 different States instead of one national sovereign, the facets of governing that touch on citizens' daily lives are normally administered by smaller governments closer to the governed. The Framers thus ensured that powers which “in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people” were held by governments more local and more accountable than a distant federal bureaucracy. The Federalist No. 45, at 293 (J. Madison). The independent power of the States also serves as a check on the power of the Federal Government: “By denying any one government complete jurisdiction over all the concerns of public life, federalism protects the liberty of the individual from arbitrary power.”

Individual Mandate Decision

What are your thoughts on the "activity" vs. "non-activity" issue?

Chief Justice Roberts (plus the Scalia four) believe that the power to regulate Commerce does not include the power "to force individuals into commerce.," or as Scalia puts it, "to make mere breathing in and out the basis for federal prescription and to extend federal; power to virtually all human activity."

The Court says requiring individuals to purchase a product is unprecedented. Is it?

What about mandatory automobile insurance laws? Do these laws come from Congress or the states? Do they regulate inactivity? Or do they apply only to people who own and drive automobiles on public streets?

Is the decision to choose self-insurance instead of third-party health insurance an economic activity that substantially affects interstate commerce?

Are all 300 million Americans already active in heath care and financing health care?

Hamilton: An American Musical--Cabinet Battle

Link

Week of September 21 thru September 25: Assignments and Zoom Schedule

 Class Video Links:

Video 11

 https://unl.box.com/s/i3oqqs14lnxmqwzlchkniarfyy2spdhi

Video 12

 https://unl.box.com/s/6rhfnlpen7c9f6cnckir2ydx4bqw8nf9

 Zoom schedule:

 Wednesday September 23 @ 5 PM (video 11) (7. Casebook p. 103-137) 

 

 Thursday September 24 @ 5 PM (video 12) (8.Casebook p. 137-149;  Wickard (link) )

 

I have decided to go with the alphabetical on call heads up.

 For Wednesday those with a last name beginning with an R or S will be up.

For Thursday those with T thru Z are up.