| |
|
Lawrence Gostin: Obamacare and the Supreme Court |
|
|
|
 The looming US Supreme Court decision on the fate of Obamacare will be examined by Centre advisor Professor Lawrence Gostin, one of the world’s top public health law scholars, in a public lecture in Sydney next week.
An unprecedented five and half hours of oral argument marked the deliberations on US President Barack Obama’s controversial health care reform before the US Supreme Court earlier this year. The highly anticipated ruling is expected to be handed down in June or July and could spell the end for the US president’s most ambitious reform just months before the election.
Gostin is the Linda D. and Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law at the Georgetown University Law Center and a member of the Centre’s International Academic Advisory Committee. He says that this is a rare moment when the Supreme Court could determine whether the US coalesces behind an historic health system reform or retreats from it.
On 23 May, Professor Gostin will present his thoughts on the decision in a lecture presented as part of the Sydney Law School Distinguished Speakers Program, with an introduction by the Centre’s Dr David Smith. There is a special discount for Centre staff and students who book before Friday 18 May. |
|
| print article - forward article |
|
|
|
|
 |
| |
|
Indiana ousts long-term moderate Lugar |
|
|
|
 Last week’s surprise defeat of long-term Indiana Republican senator Richard Lugar in a party primary may be an ill omen for American foreign policy, says Centre postdoctoral fellow Robert Rakove. Lugar, a 36-year Senate veteran, bipartisan, and noted supporter of nuclear disarmament, was defeated by conservative challenger Richard Mourdock in the Indiana Republican primary. “With his defeat, nuclear disarmament, a goal embraced by both major Australian parties, is unlikely to move forward in the near future,” wrote Rakove in Monday’s Canberra Times. In a special interview on the Centre’s website, postdoctoral fellow Nicole Hemmer says Mourdock won’t make the Congressional gridlock any easier. “He’ll fit right in with the Tea Party caucus, but as an obstructionist, he’ll make it even more difficult to enact solutions to the nation’s problems.” |
|
| print article - forward article |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
SSMART Research Training |
|
|
|
 The latest innovations in global social science research will be explored as part of the Centre’s annual Social Science Methods, Analysis and Research Training (SSMART) seminars this year.
Cutting edge research in the social sciences increasingly requires sophisticated use of diverse methods ranging from game theory to textual analysis. We have asked leading US scholars, including anthropologist Professor Faye Ginsburg of New York University and the Centre’s own Professor Margaret Levi, to share their expertise in putting these methods into practice. Levi and Ginsburg will be among others discussing the use of Multiple Methods, Quantitative Approaches, and Cultural Studies over three separate 5-day seminars in sessions in July. Applications close 1 June. |
|
| print article - forward article |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ELECTION WATCH 12 |
| Check out our competitions page for your chance to win two tickets to see the New York Times bestselling Sarah Palin biographer Joe McGinniss speak with Annabel Crabb at this year's Sydney Writers Festival. |
| |
|
|
COMMENTARY |
Barack Obama’s unexpected declaration in favour of gay marriage provoked a lot of commentary here and around the world.
The Centre’s lecturer in politics, Dr David Smith, spoke widely on the topic, with appearances on SBS World News, ABC News Radio, Sky News, and an online opinion piece published in The National Times. Smith wrote that the President’s support doesn’t necessarily mean there will be wider acceptance or greater legal certainty surrounding same-sex marriage in the US.
“Regardless of the strength of his or her convictions, no president could ban abortion or gay marriage, and nor could he significantly liberalise them. The states control those issues within constitutional limits that are sometimes contested in the Supreme Court.”
On ABC Triple J’s Hack program, the Centre’s Dr Rebecca Sheehan suggested Obama’s statement may instead have a been a shrewd political move in the lead up to the November election.
Meanwhile, on the New York Times’s online site, postdoctoral fellow Nicole Hemmer considered prospective Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s relationship with the conservative media. “For Romney to win in November he has to find a way to woo, but not wed, conservative media. And there’s no better example to follow than Richard Nixon in 1968.” Elsewhere this week, Centre lecturer Dr Adam Lockyer's comments to Associated Press on the warm reception for Obama’s military policy in the Pacific have been reprinted around the world. |
| |
|
|
|
