FLASHREPORT

UPCOMING DECISIONS BY THE SUPREME COURT!

John Eastman, Constitutional Law Attorney

[Publisher's Note: As part of an ongoing effort to bring original, thoughtful commentary to you here at the FlashReport, we are pleased to present this column from John C. Eastman. - Flash]

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The Supreme Court will be handing down several major decisions over the next week. Health Care; Arizona Immigration; FCC v. Fox Television (the fleeting expletives case); Knox v. SEIU (whether Unions can use union dues for political purposes without permission of the members); United States v. Alvarez (the "stolen valor" case, can someone be criminally punished for falsely claiming he received the Medal of Honor); and Miller v. Alabama (can life without parole be imposed on a juvenile convicted of murder).

As you may know, UCI Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and I have been debating the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare, largely by its detractors) for the past couple of years. Last week we had a live forum at the Nixon Library, hosted by the Hugh Hewitt Show/Salem Radio Network and moderated by Hugh Hewitt himself, which was attended by over 500 people. The full video is available at Hugh's subscription-only website, if you're interested in watching it. I think the subscription is a modest $6/month.

This week (tomorrow night), we'll have an encore performance at The Venue in Scottsdale. Details on getting tickets are here, if you happen to be in the Phoenix area and want to attend! Also, a recent major story in the New York Times described the origin of the legal challenge, and attributed it in part to our Reason.TV documentary, "Wheat, Weed, and Obamacare." If you haven't watched that commentary yet, I encourage you to do so, if for no other reason than to have some good talking points ready to go with the Supreme Court decision comes down sometime over the next week. And be sure to read the New York Times article -- not every day that the Times calls me a "Legal Titan" and admits that I bested Erwin on the legal arguments. Listeners of our weekly debates on the Hugh Hewitt Show know that happens a lot!, but I think this is the first time that the NY Times has acknowledged it.

By the way, during the Q&A, we got a question about Proposition 8, the traditional marriage amendment in California. While I was defending traditional marriage, the library was rocked by a 4.2 earthquake centered right nearby. You can see how the audience reacted to my comment, "You see what happens when you mess with traditional marriage," in the clip of that portion of the debate, posted on YouTube here.

Oh, on the timing of the Supreme Court decision on the Health Care law. The Drudge Report is claiming that the decision might come down today. But that is based on a highly speculative news story in the Los Angeles Times. I'd be very surprised if it came down before next Monday or even next Wednesday or Thursday, the likely last day of the term. The Court currently has hand-down days scheduled for tomorrow and Monday, but in the past, they typically add an additional hand-down day (or two) the final week to accommodate the remaining opinions that need to be released before they end the term. My friends over at Scotusblog have a good primer on how all this works, in case you're interested.

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A nationally recognized Constitutional Law expert, Dr. John C. Eastman is Former Dean and Donald P. Kennedy Chair of the Chapman University School of Law.  Eastman is also a Senior Fellow with the esteemed Claremont Institute

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