April 14, 2011 4:26PM 

# The Battle of the Ilyas III: Together against Obamacare 

By [Ilya Shapiro](https://www.cato.org/people/ilya-shapiro) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

As the number of events I’ve participated in as a result of my challenge to debate “[anyone, anywhere, any time](https://www.cato.org/will-debate-constitutionality-of-obamacare-anytime-anywhere/)” on the constitutionality of Obamacare approaches 50, I find myself in many interesting situations. This past Tuesday was no exception, as George Mason law professor (and Cato adjunct scholar) [Ilya Somin](https://www.cato.org/people/ilya-somin) and I took on Yale law professor Akhil Amar and NYU law professor Rick Hills in an Oxford-style parliamentary debate organized by the [Amherst College Political Union](https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/studentgroups/political_union).

This event had a number of interesting subplots: Somin and I have held an annual “[Battle of the Ilyas](https://www.cato.org/battle-of-the-ilyas-ii-this-time-its-personal/)” but now appear on the same stage arguing from the same position; Amar wrote a scathing oped [attacking Judge Roger Vinson’s decision in the Florida Obamacare case](https://www.cato.org/responding-to-akhil-amar-on-obamacare/) to which I responded by rewriting to lyrics to “[Every Breath You Take](https://www.cato.org/the-federal-governments-police-power/)”; Hills and Somin were both students of Amar; and, of course, the debate was in Massachusetts, home of the Romneycare state-based individual health insurance mandate.

I think Somin and I acquitted ourselves rather well, especially given that the audience was hardly a sympathetic one. I’ll reserve other comment, however, because you can view video of the debate here:

Postscript: After the debate, Amar and I made a $100 bet that our respective sides would prevail at the Supreme Court.

##### Related Tags 

[Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).