Over 100 Law Professors Agree on Affordable Care Act’s Constitutionality

[hifiguy]

9. I did indeed.

I took three constitutional law classes while at Harvard. Steve Shiffrin, a visiting First Amendment specialist now at Cornell was my "regular" con-law prof, I took advanced con-law from Tribe and a seminar with Richard Fallon, who now holds Tribe's former chair at the law school, during third year. Rich also served as supervisor for my third year paper, which was on constitutional law topics.

Larry Tribe is an very, very nice person and a seriously gifted teacher - very unpretentious, he usually taught in a sweater/shirt over jeans and sneakers. He said he only wears suits when he goes to court or for TV appearances. Brilliant man and extremely good at facilitating classroom discussions; he was never condescending or arrogant in the least. Once he took me and three other students from the class out to lunch at his favorite restaurant in Cambridge, recommended some of the most expensive dishes on the menu and picked up the tab. At lunch he told us that he went to law school after he realized he'd never be the best mathematician in the world while he was in grad school at Harvard. He also related some stories about how he believed his office phone was being tapped at the time Robert Bork was nominated for the SCOTUS; Tribe testified extensively against his confirmation before Congress. He thought it was "amusing" but his daughter was horrified as she sometimes called her dad at his office.