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Between 2009 and 2020, Josh published more than 10,000 blog posts. Here, you can access his blog archives.

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Video: Presentation of “Unprecedented” at Western Michigan University Medical Humanities Conference

September 30th, 2012

On Friday I gave a talk about the challenge to the Affordable Care Act at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan (home of Derek Jeter!) at the Medical Humanities Conference. Most of the people in attendance were not lawyers–mostly medical students, medical ethicists, philosophers, and other students of the humanities. My talk was simplified a bit to explain a number of terms, and I didn’t go into nearly enough depth about the differences between penalties and taxes and the like, though I think it went over well.

The conference was running a bit late, so I had to bide some time at the beginning (you can hear me bantering with the crowd about my Op-Eds I drafted before the case that were utterly useless once the opinion came down, and about broccoli).

Fast-forward to 9:50 to hear me start.

Is there any special significance of an Amicus brief filed by a member of Congress in a case where they lost that political battle?

September 29th, 2012

What should we make of it when members of Congress file Amicus briefs in cases where their failure to win in the political process resulted in a court case? I am thinking of a recent brief filed by Mitch McConnell and 41 other Senate Republicans challenging President Obama’s recess appointments (and this brief by Speaker Boehner, who would seem to have even less of an interest in recess appointments as a member of the House). This is a battle the Republicans lost in the political realm. So they now turn to the court, and throw their weight behind a constitutional challenge to the appointments.

Does this bother anyone? I’m sure there are examples of Democrats doing this as well.

Maybe I’ll write something about this at some point.

A related question is what should we make of when Vice President Cheney files an Amicus Brief in Heller, disagreeing with his boss and Attorney General?

Kagan’s Clerks Are Yentas

September 28th, 2012

Schmoozers they are.

“They’re a fount of ideas, they’re a fount of information. They wander around the building and find out a lot about what other people are thinking. There’s a kind of clerks gossip network, and I encourage them to schmooze.”

 

Tomorrow I will be presenting at the Medical Humanities Conference at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan

September 27th, 2012

I will be talking about the challenge to the Affordable Care Act. Most of the people in attendance will be doctors, or ethicists who specialize in health and medicine law, though there will several law profs who will talk about NFIB v. Sebelius. The conference site is here and the program is here. If anyone is in Kalamazoo, come say hi! I will try to record the event, so I should have video online shortly.

Happy Third Blogiversary To Josh Blackman.com

September 27th, 2012

My very first post was on September 27th, 2009. At the time, I was about a month into my clerkship in Johnstown in the Western District of Pennsylvania. I had just struck out on securing a Circuit Clerkship for the following year. This was the 2nd time Judge Boggs had declined my application–third time’s the charm, in hindsight, I suppose (I wrote this book chapter about my clerkship travails). Though, at the time, I realized without a Circuit Clerkship I would have to do something different to get where I was going (I still don’t know where that is). So what the hell, I thought. Let me start a blog.

Three years and 4,700 posts later, I’m still here.

Thank you for your readership. I hope to be here for many years to come.