SCOTUSblog on camera: Laurence H. Tribe (Part four)

Coercion versus a wink and a nudge. What the Supreme Court did in deciding Obamacare” and why the results are not as surprising as one mightthink.

“People ask, Why did you pick constitutional law?I mean, come on.Who, with a real opportunity to dig into a subject of law would not wantthat to be constitutional law?It has everything.It has history.It has moral philosophy.The meaning of liberty, of equality, of dignity.It has legaltechnicalities galore.It has precedent.It involves strategy, dealing with complicated human situations and the people who are affected by law,and the human dynamics of complicated institutions like the U.S. Supreme Court.”

In this six-part interview, Laurence H. Tribe, the Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School,discusses his background, from his birth in Shanghai, China during World War Two and his early interest in mathematics to teachingpresidentsand Supreme Court Justices and arguing cases before the Supreme Court; the inspiration and purpose of his latest book,Uncertain Justice: TheRoberts Court and the Constitution, written withformer studentJoshua Matz; and understanding essential,accessible points of the Supreme Court, principles in constitutional law and leading issues of the day–“Obamacare,racialequality,gay rights, campaignfinance,and the relation of privacy and technology.