"Healthcare Litigation: US States v. US Government" with VA Solicitor General on Feb. 15 at 4:30 PM

America’s health care future lies in the balance, and Virginia’s Solicitor General E. Duncan Getchell, Jr., is one of the key figures in the legislative battle surrounding “Obamacare.” The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the subject of numerous lawsuits; Getchell was instrumental in the Commonwealth of VA v. Sebelius case, where the State of Virginia claimed the new health care bill infringed on states’ rights.

Getchell will speak of the current litigation between the 28 states, including Virginia, and the U.S. Government, specifically:

• The arguments against the constitutionality of the health care mandate are doctrinally modest.
• The arguments in favor of Congress's power to require a citizen to purchase a good or service from another citizen lack principled limits and are therefore doctrinally extravagant.
• The novelty of the claimed power gives rise to a presumption against Congress having the power.

Earle Duncan Getchell, Jr., has been serving as Solicitor General of Virginia in the Office of Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli since 2009. Mr. Getchell worked previously with the Chair Appellate Practice Group at McGuireWoods, L.L.P. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, an elected member of the American Law Institute, and a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference. Mr. Getchell was an invited participant in the 2005 National Conference on Appellate Justice, and was Adjunct Professor at the Marshall Wythe School of Law of the College of William and Mary during the Spring 2009 semester, teaching legislative redistricting. He has served as Special Counsel for: the Commonwealth of Virginia, defending the 2001 redistricting at trial and on appeal; the National Gambling Impact Study Commission; and the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. In 2007, President George W. Bush nominated him to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Please join us for VA Solicitor General Getchell’s talk, “Healthcare Litigation: U.S. States v. U.S. Government," in Rockefeller 003 at 4:30 pm, February 15, 2012.