President Obama in his speech on “fixing” the Affordable Care Act today did not specify what statutory authority, if any, he thinks authorizes him to make such dictats. Given the gargantuan length of the ObamaCare statute, he might still be looking. Press reports say the President is claiming a broad “enforcement discretion.” It is true […]
Archive | Obama
Will Obama Order Military Intervention in Syria Even if Congress Refuses to Authorize it?
Although President Obama has asked Congress to authorize the use of military force against Syria, he and other administration officials continue to insist that he has the power to order a strike even if Congress refuses his request. In my view, anything more than an extremely limited operation requires congressional authorization under the Constitution. But […]
What Will A Proposed Authorization for Military Force in Syria Authorize?
By Dale Carpenter on August 31, 2013 6:05 pm in Constitutional Law, Military, Obama, War and Armed Conflict
Now that the president has vowed to seek Congress’s approval even for what he promises will be very limited military action in Syria, an interesting question arises. What will the authorization authorize him to do? The president will want an expansive resolution, allowing him maximum flexibility to do what he thinks necessary to accomplish what […]
Wall Street Journal Op-Ed: Two Presidents, Two Suspensions
By Nick Rosenkranz on August 17, 2013 8:48 am in Constitutional Law, Executive Branch, Habeas, Health Care, Obama, Presidency, Separation of Powers
My op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal compares Obama’s suspension of the ObamaCare employer mandate with Lincoln’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Both Presidents were constitutional lawyers; both Presidents unilaterally suspended the law; and both suspensions were constitutionally dubious. But what they did next could not have been more different. The op-ed is […]
Obama Probably Did Not Win the 2012 Election by Violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
In a recent post, co-blogger Stewart Baker writes that there is “a very real possibility” that the Obama campaign won the 2012 election by increasing turnout among its supporters, using tactics that violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It is difficult to definitively disprove such claims. But the available evidence cuts the other way […]
Public Ignorance about Obamacare Revisited
By Ilya Somin on June 21, 2013 11:15 am in Democracy and Political Ignorance, Health Care, Insurance Exchanges, Obama, Political Ignorance
The recent Kaiser poll on health care linked by co-blogger Jonathan Adler reveals more evidence of public ignorance about Obamacare. Most notably, 45% of respondents say they have heard “nothing” about the health care reform law’s insurance exchanges, and 34% say they have heard “only a little.” This despite the fact that the exchanges are […]
First item of new post-election “flexibility”: U.N. gun control
As reported by the Second Amendment Foundation, this morning the Obama administration joined a U.N. majority which called for convening a new conference to create a global Arms Trade Treaty.
Explaining Obama’s Victory
Beginning today, pundits are going to offer a wide range of explanations for Obama’s victory. But I think the simplest and most obvious is that he won because the economy had improved just enough since 2008 to give him the edge. As I pointed out back in September, standard models of presidential election outcomes based […]
Racial Progress and Obama’s Reelection
As I see it, Obama’s reelection is overall likely to cause more harm than good. But there is one important positive aspect that deserves special mention. Obama’s reelection victory cements the idea that having an African-American president is normal. For a nation with a long history of racial oppression – one where most blacks didn’t […]
Implications of Obama’s Victory
All of the major networks have called the election for Obama, and it’s pretty obvious that he’s going to win, even though the Romney campaign has not yet officially conceded. It’s an impressive political achievement for the president and his supporters, especially if (as now seems likely), he does better in the popular vote than […]
Are We More Likely to Get an Immigration Reform Bill if Obama Wins the Election?
In my post comparing Romney and Obama on libertarian grounds, I noted that libertarians might have good reason to support Obama if it is likely that a second term for him would result in substantial immigration reform, by which I mean letting more immigrants in the country and/or letting more of the ones already here […]
Libertarians and the Presidential Election
Reason has an interesting symposium on the presidential election in which various libertarian writers and political commentators give their presidential picks. In sharp contrast with Reason’s symposium during the 2008 election, there is almost no support for Obama. While many libertarians endorsed Obama four years ago, very few are willing to do so today. I […]
Why the Presidential Race Should Not Ignore Judicial Nominations
In this post, I complained about the total lack of discussion of judicial nominations in last week’s presidential debate. Tonight’s vice presidential debate was only slightly better. The only mention of the courts was a brief reference by Joe Biden while discussing the issue of abortion. In reality, as I explained here, there are many […]
A Libertarian Perspective on Romney vs. Obama
In recent weeks, libertarians have been debating whether there’s any good reason for us to support Romney over Obama, or vice versa. In contrast to 2008, when many libertarians endorsed Obama, few if any are making the case for him this year. There is near-universal agreement among libertarian commentators that Obama’s presidency has done more […]
Dogs that Didn’t Bark in Tonight’s Presidential Debate
By Ilya Somin on October 3, 2012 11:22 pm in Elections, Health Care, Individual Mandate, Obama, Political Ignorance
In addition to Willow, there were two major dogs that didn’t bark during tonight’s presidential debate. First, even though the debate was supposed to focus on domestic policy, neither the moderator nor the candidates ever focused on some of the most important domestic issues on which the president can have a big impact: issues such […]