David Rivkin to debate health care on Obama's turf

Stage set for constitutionality discussion at University of Chicago

Published on November 30, 2009 by Jason Yu (OfficialWire) WASHINGTON, D.C.

David Rivkin announced that he will speak on the constitutionality of healthcare reform at the University of Chicago Law School where President Barack Obama served as a professor.  David Rivkin, a constitutional lawyer who has argued cases before the Supreme Court, set off the national debate on the individual mandate of the current House and Senate healthcare bills. Professor Aziz Huq of the University of Chicago Law School will join David Rivkin in tomorrows panel discussion, set for noon.

The individual mandate requires every U.S. citizen to purchase health insurance. This requirement has become a contentious issue among members of Congress and constitutional authorities, with heated arguments occurring on both sides. David Rivkin, a constitutional scholar, maintains that the Constitution's powers over individuals are specific and enumerated. Its authority to compel individual behavior is limited to economic activity and to interstate commerce. It specifically limits the powers of the federal government, and it has had only 27 amendments since its adoption in 1787. David Rivkin has repeatedly expressed concern about the extension of federal powers beyond the limited powers granted in the U.S. Constitution.

David Rivkin's appearance follows a series of media debates with law professors, television appearances, and articles in The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Mr. Rivkin is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional matters.

About the University of Chicago Law School

The University of Chicago Law School occupies a unique niche among this country's premier law schools. Located on a residential campus in one of America 's great cities, Chicago offers a rigorous and interdisciplinary professional education that blends the study of law with the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences. Students, faculty, and staff form a small, tightly knit community devoted to the life of the mind. Learning is participatory. Chicago does not seek to impose a single viewpoint or style of thought on its students. Instead, our faculty exposes students to contrasting views, confident in students' abilities to choose their own paths.

For more information, visit www.law.uchicago.edu/school.

About David Rivkin

David Rivkin, an attorney in private practice and partner at Baker & Hostetler in Washington, D.C., has had a lengthy career distinguished by service in the White House during two presidents' terms, in the U.S. Department of Justice, and in the U.S. Department of Energy. He is a well-known writer and media commentator on matters of constitutional and international law, as well as foreign and defense policy. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Nixon Center, Contributing Editor at the National Review, and a member of the Advisory Council at National Interest magazine. David Rivkin currently serves as Co-Chairman of the Center for Law and Counterterrorism at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He currently represents foreign governments and corporate entities on legal, political, economic, defense, and public relations matters.

For more information, visit www.davidrivkin.com.

Keywords: David Rivkin, University of Chicago School of Law, Baker & Hostetler, individual mandate, health-care reform, healthcare, U.S. constitution, current affairs