Severability in Larger Constitutional Context: Part Five in our Series on the California v. Texas Challenge to the Affordable Care Act

VIKRAM DAVID AMAR, EVAN CAMINKER, JASON MAZZONE

In this fifth of a series of columns examining the California v. Texas case challenging the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Illinois law dean Vikram David Amar, Michigan Law dean emeritus Evan Caminker, and Illinois law professor Jason Mazzone discuss severability in a larger context and explain why, in their view the majority and minority positions are partly right and partly wrong. The authors conclude that if the Court invalidates and enjoins the individual mandate, it should reject the challengers’ substantive express inseverability claim that the entire ACA remainder should be enjoined.

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Loehrlein v. State

Docket: 20S-CR-376

Opinion Date: December 9, 2020

Judge: Steven H. David

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of murder and attempted murder of his family members, holding that one of the jurors committed gross misconduct but that it was not likely that Defendant was harmed by the misconduct. The juror at issue wrote "N/A," meaning not applicable, in response to jury questions on her jury questionnaire regarding her past criminal history and whether she had herself been a victim of a crime. The juror, however, had in fact been charged with a crime and had been the victim of domestic abuse. The court of appeals reversed the convictions, finding that the trial court erred in not finding that the juror's false answers amounted to gross misconduct that probably harmed Defendant. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that, despite the jurors gross misconduct, it was unlikely that Defendant was harmed.