Over the past few months, some people have posted to the Legislation listserv about the possibility of using the story of the enactment of health care reform legislation as an alternative to the Eskridge, Frickey, and Garrett start with the story of the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (I just saw a recent blog post by someone on this as well, but I can’t seem to find it right now.)
The problem with using either the Civil Rights Act or HCR as a starting case is that, despite the excitement and drama, it is so atypical of how most legislation advances. Still, it has the benefit of engaging students directly, and I’ve always had a lot of success using the civil rights story to start my Legislation course.
In any case, the Washington Post has just published this extensive story giving some of the important parts of the story. Roll Call profiles the Senate Parliamentarian dealing with the reconciliation battles. I am sure there will be more to add in the days and weeks to come.