Unprecedented
The Constitutional Challenge to Obamacare
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Foreword by Randy E. Barnett
In 2012, the United States Supreme Court became the center of the political world. In a dramatic and unexpected 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts voted on narrow grounds to save the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. Unprecedented tells the inside story of how the challenge to Obamacare raced across all three branches of government, and narrowly avoided a constitutional collision between the Supreme Court and President Obama.
On November 13, 2009, a group of Federalist Society lawyers met in the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., to devise a legal challenge to the constitutionality of President Obama's "legacy" -- his healthcare reform. It seemed a very long shot, and was dismissed peremptorily by the White House, much of Congress, most legal scholars, and all of the media. Two years later the fight to overturn the Affordable Care Act became a political and legal firestorm. When, finally, the Supreme Court announced its ruling, the judgment was so surprising that two cable news channels misreported it and announced that the Act had been declared unconstitutional.
Unprecedented offers unrivaled inside access to how key decisions were made in Washington, based on interviews with over one hundred of the people who lived this journey -- including the academics who began the challenge, the attorneys who litigated the case at all levels, and Obama administration attorneys who successfully defended the law. It reads like a political thriller, provides the definitive account of how the Supreme Court almost struck down President Obama's "unprecedented" law, and explains what this decision means for the future of the Constitution, the limits on federal power, and the Supreme Court.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
An unbiased analysis of conservatives' efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) would be a welcome addition to the literature on the legislation. Unfortunately, with Blackman's account, warning signs are evident early on the foreword was written by Randy E. Barnett, a Georgetown law professor who dedicated himself "to the constitutional challenge to Obamacare" for almost three years, and whom Blackman dubs the "intellectual godfather" of the cause. Barnett notes that Blackman spoke to "nearly everyone involved," but the author himself acknowledges that he "made no efforts to contact any of the justices or their clerks" explaining, "This book is about how people outside the Court reacted to the legal drama inside the Court." Though the 2012 decision allowed the act to stand, Blackman argues that the logic behind Chief Justice Roberts's deciding vote which hinged on a rewrite of the individual mandate statute set the precedent for future conservative arguments in favor of limiting federal powers. Blackman does a stellar job of calling out both parties for their flip-flopping with respect to the individual mandate, but his viewpoint is limited.
