John Yoo and Richard Epstein on Health Care Reform

Back in December I wrote about the circuit split now before the Supreme Court in the Health Care Reform Cases (here). I recently came across an interesting segment of Uncommon Knowledge hosted by Peter Robinson:

Richard Epstein, the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, New York University Law School, and John Yoo, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley law school, examine the merits of various constitutional arguments for the Supreme Court's striking down Obamacare.

Here are some of the highlights:

Robinson: "In one word, . . . will the court help to reelect President Obama?"

Yoo: "Yes."

Epstein: "Well, probably."

* * * *

Yoo: "If there were nine Richard Epsteins on the Court, it will still break out 5-4 on a lot of issues."

* * * *

Epstein: "John, you haven't read the whole thing have you?"

Yoo: "I don't want to. . . . I've read like 500 pages."

* * * *

Yoo: "If I had to bet real money, I think the Court will strike it down."

* * * * 

Epstein: "[Watch for the Justices to] tip their hands [during oral argument]. . . . Watch Justice Kennedy's body language."

And last but not least, here is the video:

 

Comments

[Nicholas J. Wagoner]

Good catch. I've entered the changes. I must have had Steely Dan playing in the background when I drafted this post. Thanks!

[W.H.J.]

Great conversation, thanks for posting!

Also, note: you listed Prof. Yoo as "Woo" several times in the body text of your post.