University to Celebrate Constitution Day Sept. 27

By Lori Atherton
Sept. 20, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act—upholding the key provision known as the individual mandate but holding invalid a portion of the law extending Medicaid—is the topic of the University of Michigan's upcoming celebration of Constitution Day.

The event—"The Health Care Decision: Was It Right? What Does It Mean?"—will be held Thursday, Sept. 27, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Law School, in Room 250 Hutchins Hall. The University community and the general public are welcome to attend; refreshments will be provided.

Richard Friedman, Alene and Allan F. Smith Professor of Law at Michigan Law, will moderate a panel discussion featuring Professor of Law Samuel Bagenstos, Assistant Professor of Law Nicholas Bagley, and Professor of Law Richard Primus. Profs. Friedman, Bagenstos, and Primus are all constitutional law experts, while Prof. Bagley is an expert on administrative law and health law.

Each panel member will give a separate presentation on different aspects of the health-care ruling. They will cover the decision that the individual mandate was not valid under the commerce clause, the decision that it was valid as an exercise of the taxing power, and the decision that the provision of withholding all Medicaid funds from states that didn't go along with the extension of Medicaid is coercive.

"The health-care decision is so important," Prof. Friedman said, "in its effects on both constitutional law and the daily lives of Americans, that it became a natural focus for this year's event."

For more information, contact Catherine Behan, Michigan Law director of communications, at behan@umich.edu, or 734.936.3612.

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