This update is a bit early this week, in anticipation of a long holiday weekend. But there’s lots of cool stuff to report: Government accountability — victory in Arizona We received a sweet victory today in Biggs v. Brewer, a case brought by our friends at the Goldwater Institute. Arizona requires a two-thirds majority for … ...
The Arizona Supreme Court said goodbye to outgoing governor Jan Brewer by upholding the right of legislators to challenge her illegal Medicaid expansion efforts. Last year, Brewer and her supporters engineered an expansion of the state’s Medicaid program pursuant to Obamacare—bizarrely, the very same Medicaid expansion she successfully cha ...
Today we filed an amicus brief in a case challenging Arizona’s Medicaid expansion. Like California (and many other states), Arizona’s constitution requires that all taxes be passed by a supermajority vote—in this case, 2/3 of the legislature. The Medicaid expansion included a tax on hospitals in order to pay for the program, but ...
Several states have constitutional limits on tax-increases, and particularly super-majority requirements that force legislatures to get a 2/3 vote to raise taxes. California’s Proposition 13 is the most famous, but Arizona, Nevada, and other states have similar requirements. Sadly, state officials often try to find ways around these limits— ...
This morning I spoke with Garret Lewis of KNST Tucson about this week’s oral arguments in the Obamacare cases. You can listen online here. My interview begins about 35:00. … ...
On a lighter note, here’s the blog of the courtroom sketch artist who drew the last three days’ hearings. I particularly enjoyed his sketch of Justice Breyer holding up a copy of the PPACA. But the figure on the far right in this sketch is me. You can also see the back of my head … ...
If you haven’t already found them, the audio of yesterday’s oral arguments are available online. Here’s the Severability argument, and here’s the Medicaid argument. … ...
I spoke with Chris Daniel of KMJ-FM about all three days of the Obamacare cases. You can listen to them online here: Day One, Day Two, Day Three. … ...
I’ll be talking with John and Ken again at 4 pm today about today’s Obamacare arguments. You can listen here. Update: Click here to listen to the podcast. … ...