Archive for 'Elizabeth Price Foley'

To the trained eye of Elizabeth Price Foley, life and death aren’t as clear cut as, well, life and death. The professor specializes in constitutional law, healthcare law and bioethics, and has studied life and death extensively. Her findings may surprise you: Life and death aren’t opposites according to the law. In fact, they aren’t even related, legally speaking.

Foley focused on death in her TEDxFIU talk, which asked the audience “When are you really dead?”

This issue comes to the forefront as the demand for organ donation continues to rise. It more important than ever to standardize how and when death is legally declared.

Read More →

In the following op-ed that appeared in the October 23, 2012, edition of the Wall Street Journal, FIU Law Professor Elizabeth Price Foley makes the case that the presidential debates have failed to address an important issue: federalism.

Plenty of Debates, Not Much About States

Democrats regard federalism as quaint, Republicans at least pay lip service to it.

by David B. Rivkin Jr. and Elizabeth Price Foley

In the presidential debates, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney ranged across dozens of topics, but an important one didn’t come up: federalism. And no wonder.

The idea that the Constitution grants only limited and enumerated powers and leaves the remainder to the states is foreign to those who believe that the national government should or even could address voters’ every concern. But contrary to the view widely shared by the political class, Washington—in particular, Congress—does not have the power to pass any law it wants in the name of the “general welfare.”

Politicians should take heed. Voters are increasingly focused on the proper role of government in society: Witness the rise of the tea party and unease over the massive debt caused by entitlements and other government handouts. The continuing loud objection to ObamaCare’s takeover of health care shows that voters want to preserve the Constitution’s architecture of limited federal power.

Read More →

In the July 9th edition of The New York Times’ “Room for Debate” feature, FIU Law Professor Elizabeth Price Foley advocates revisiting the Constitution and restoring federalism.

Elizabeth Price Foley serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Justice Florida Chapter. She is also the Institute for Justice Chair in Constitutional Litigation and Professor of Law at Florida International University College of Law.

Restore Federalism: It Isn’t a Bad Word

BY ELIZABETH PRICE FOLEY

Don’t change the text. Change the attitude with more judicial engagement in enforcing existing, critical constitutional features — in particular: federalism.

To some, the F word is constitutional obscenity. It is relabeled “states’ rights” and followed by reference to slavery and the Confederacy. This taps into deep emotions but is utterly wrong.

Greater engagement with the existing Constitution is best, but proposed amendments aimed at restoring state power are worth considering.

Federalism isn’t about states’ rights. It’s about individual liberty. The Supreme Court emphasized this in Bond v. United States (2011): “By denying any one government complete jurisdiction over all the concerns of public life, federalism protects the liberty of the individual from arbitrary power. When government acts in excess of its lawful powers, that liberty is at stake.” And lest you think this emanates from the court’s right wing, Bond was unanimous.

The powers “reserved to the states” under the 10th Amendment are functionally nonexistent if the Constitution’s carefully enumerated powers are infinitely capacious. So while the 10th Amendment doesn’t tell us what powers belong to the states, its message is clear: preserving federalism requires vigilant enforcement of limited and enumerated powers.

Read more at the NYTimes.com »

In the following opinion piece published in the June 30th edition of the Miami Herald, FIU Law Professor Elizabeth Price Foley assesses the Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The decision, says Foley, undermined the healthcare law even as it upheld it.

Elizabeth Price Foley serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Justice Florida Chapter. She is also the Institute for Justice Chair in Constitutional Litigation and Professor of Law at Florida International University College of Law.

Healthcare act survives, but it’s a tattered quilt

BY ELIZABETH PRICE FOLEY

The Supreme Court delivered a surprising and mixed opinion on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The most controversial provision of the Act — the so-called “individual mandate” to buy health insurance — was deemed unconstitutional as a regulation of commerce yet constitutional as a tax. The Act’s mandatory Medicaid expansion — extending coverage to an estimated 16 million poor individuals who can’t afford private insurance — was declared unconstitutional, allowing states to “opt out” of the expansion.

Upholding the individual mandate as a tax was the big shocker. No other lower court had ruled the mandate was sustainable as a tax, and supporters of the law — from President Obama to former House speaker Nancy Pelosi to Senate majority leader Harry Reid — had repeatedly and vigorously insisted that the ACA did not raise taxes.

Read More →

(TUNE IN) – Topical Currents will host FIU law professor and Constitutional expert, Elizabeth Price Foley. She will discuss the Tea Party movement, and how she feels it’s been misunderstood and unfairly stereotyped in mainstream media. The program will air Monday, May 21st at one o’clock on 91.3 WLRN.

Elizabeth Price Foley is a self-described “recovering liberal,” who’s written The Tea Party: Three Principles. Foley serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Justice Florida Chapter. She is also the Institute for Justice Chair in Constitutional Litigation and Professor of Law at Florida International University College of Law.

Topical Currents is hosted by Joseph Cooper, who shares his microphone with a wide range of guests including community leaders, artists, scientists, historians, political thinkers and more who bring issues of interest to South Floridians.

Listener call-in line is 1-800-743-9576 that’s 1-800-743-WLRN
You can also email radio@wlrn.org
Facebook.com/TopicalCurrents

Cammy Clark, of the Miami Herald, profiles FIU Law School Professor Elizabeth Price Foley’s third book, The Tea Party: Three Principles.

FIU law professor publishes third book on the constitution

Despite graduating with a history degree from Emory University, Elizabeth Price Foley knew little about the U.S. Constitution when she worked on healthcare legislation for two Democratic congressmen.

It was not until the early 1990s — when she left Capitol Hill to attend law school in Tennessee — that she discovered just how little she knew or had cared about the country’s founding legal document.

“I realized all the work I was doing on the Hill was kind of ludicrous,” she said. “I was operating under a knowledge vacuum, with no cognizance of whether the bills I were writing and promoting were constitutional. … The attitude was do what we want to do and let the courts stop us.”

Today, Foley, 46, of Key Largo, calls herself a “constitutional geek.” She can speak passionately for hours about the 224-year-old evolving document.

“She is one of constitutional law’s rising stars,” said Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law.

Read More →

In the National Post, FIU Law School Professor Elizabeth Price Foley writes on the perception of America’s foundational principles.

Elizabeth Price Foley serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Justice Florida Chapter. She is also the Institute for Justice Chair in Constitutional Litigation and Professor of Law at Florida International University College of Law.

The Tea Party rises

The growing perception that America’s foundational principles are on the verge of a deep, dark, politically correct precipice has created a political environment akin to a gas leak. It was only a matter of time before something ignited the flames of political resistance. As it turned out, the spark was a free-falling economy and a crumbling housing market. For years, Wall Street greed and congressional policies combined to encourage widespread departure from traditional mortgage lending practices, in which no-documentation, no-money-down, interest-only, high debt-to-income-ratio and other high-risk or “sub-prime” loans became commonplace … Read more at the National Post.com »