HR 5

Did the Founders’ Constitution Permit Federal Tort Reform?0
- November 23, 2012
NOTE: The photo shows the author at the sundial in James Madison’s garden at Montpelier, VA. On behalf of the national Chamber of Commerce, super-lawyer Paul Clement has authored a new paper arguing that federal tort reform is constitutional. The paper begins with a section purporting to show that the Framers’ Commerce Clause was broad
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Obamacare Decision Suggests U.S. Malpractice Bill Unconstitutional 0
- July 27, 2012
Little-noticed amid the commentary on the Supreme Court’s health care decision is the decision’s blow to congressional efforts to federalize medical malpractice law—a potential element of the Republican plan to “replace Obamacare.” Medical malpractice cases, like most areas of civil justice, traditionally are judged by state courts under state law rather than by the national
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House Rules Committee: “Violate Your Oath No Matter How You Vote!”0
- March 15, 2012
It’s a stunning betrayal of all those hardworking, pro-Constitution Americans who gave U.S. House Republicans their majority. Republicans controlling the House Rules Committee have added sweeping new mandates on the states to a bill repealing part of Obamacare. The result is revised H.R. 5. Just on good government grounds, those two very different items do
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Congress, Butt Out! The Constitution Reserves Malpractice Reform for the States 0
- November 20, 2011
In their zeal to adopt a federal malpractice reform bill to dictate procedures to state courts, many Republicans in Congress are doing precisely what they rightly accuse Democrats of doing: blithely disregarding the Constitution’s clear limits on federal power. Their proposals, once encapsulated in H.R. 5 and then slipped into the Senate Republican “jobs bill,”
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Control of the state courts—the latest federal takeover target?0
- April 6, 2011
[T]his bill . . . is an attack on state courts and on the civil jury system itself.
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