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U.S. Supreme Court

Aug. 15, 2012

Justice Roberts and federal power

There is absolutely no basis for believing that John Roberts' vote to uphold the individual mandate was anything other than his view of the law. By Erwin Chemerinsky of UC Irvine School of Law

Erwin Chemerinsky

Dean and Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Berkeley School of Law

Erwin's most recent book is "Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism." He is also the author of "Closing the Courthouse," (Yale University Press 2017).


Conservatives have been merciless in attacking Chief Justice John Roberts for his opinion upholding the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 132 S. Ct. 2566 (2012). Conservative talk show host Mark Levin said that Roberts' opinion was "absolutely lawless" and said that "now we have something akin to the Warren Court." Glenn Beck ...

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