The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
Three Years of Commentary on California v. Texas
An index of my writings on what may be the last major Obamacare case to get to the Supreme Court.
Like co-blogger Jonathan Adler (who compiled his writings about the case here), I have written extensively about California v. Texas, since the case was first filed back in 2018. And, like Jonathan, I also joined the "strange bedfellows" amicus briefs on severability (Supreme Court version here).
From the very beginning, I took the position that what's left of the individual mandate is unconstitutional, but that it was severable from the rest of the Affordable Care Act.
For those interested, here is an index to my writings about the case (all posts at the Volokh Conspiracy unless otherwise noted):
"Thoughts on the New Constitutional Case Against Obamacare," Feb. 28, 2018.
"Thoughts on the Trump Administration's Decision Not to Defend Obamacare," June 9, 2018.
"Why the Individual Mandate Part of the New Obamacare Case Matters," June 14, 2018.
"Thoughts on Today's Federal Court Decision Against Obamacare," Dec. 14, 2018.
"Fifth Circuit Sends Obamacare Severability Issue Back to Square One—But Not Quite," Dec. 18, 2019.
"Fifth Circuit Declines to Rehear Obamacare Severability Case en banc," Jan. 31, 2020.
"Obamacare Returns to the Supreme Court—Yet Again," Mar. 2, 2020.
"Why Amy Coney Barrett is Unlikely to Have Any Meaningful Effect on the Future of the ACA," Oct. 12, 2020.
"Thoughts on Today's Oral Argument in California v. Texas—the Obamacare Severability Case," Nov. 3, 2020.
"Preliminary Thoughts on California v. Texas," June 17, 2021.
"The Latest ACA Challenge was so Feeble Even Conservative Justices Shot it Down," Washington Post, June 17, 2021.
And, for true completists, here is a video of a February 2019 American Enterprise Institute panel on the severability issues in this case, featuring co-blogger Josh Blackman, Prof. James Blumstein (Vanderbilt), Ted Frank, and myself. Our panel is the second on the video, and begins around 1:17:00.
