It's all about me, isn't it?
Charles Fried is one such heavy hitter. He was Solicitor General from 1985-1989, and is now a Harvard law prof. He was on Greta's show the other night defending the constitutionality of Obamacare. He did so by citing Justice Scalia's opinion in Raich. I've snipped out a few excerpts for brevity, but you can see the full transcript at the URL that follows:
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VAN SUSTEREN: And does the constitution in your opinion, sir, enable them?
FRIED: It certainly does. The statute which I have front of me, I bothered to read it, says that the health insurance industry is an $854 billion dollar industry. That sounds like commerce.
The Supreme Court just five years ago with Justice Scalia in the majority said that it is all right under the Commerce Clause to make it illegal for California for residents in California to grow pot for their own use, because that has affect on interstate commerce.
Well, if that has affect on interstate commerce, what happens in an $854 billion national industry certainly does.
-snip-
FRIED: I daresay that, because I looked at that 2005 lawsuit about the pot in California. If somebody growing pot in their basement is interstate commerce and Scalia said so, I don't know where you are going to get five votes the other way.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,591103,00.html
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I personally think Scalia will find some reason to vote against it, but it's hard to argue with Mr. Fried's points regarding the outcome. Scalia did indeed endorse the New Deal Commerce Clause in Raich. Agreed?