Long after most analysts and pundits stopped reporting that Obamacare could yet be overturned in the Supreme Court, a First Amendment objection filed by Liberty University, based in Lynchburg, Virginia, could do just that.
Monday, the Supreme Court allowed the Christian school’s challenge to both the individual mandate, which required all people to obtain insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty, and a separate mandate requiring large employers to provide coverage for workers to move forward, acording to a Reuters report.
In 2011, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, ruled that it “lacked jurisdiction” to review the case because challenging the government mandates would have violated the federal Anti-Injunction Act's ban on lawsuits seeking to halt collection of a tax.
However, the Supreme Court did not consider Liberty's appeal in a batch of cases reviewed by the justices earlier this year, which led to its upholding of the individual mandate by a 5-4 vote. A day after it ruled, the court formally declined to review Liberty's appeal.
Mondays reversal came after the university asked for a rehearing, arguing that the 4th Circuit was wrong to decide it lacked jurisdiction to rule on the matter and that its decision should be thrown out and a new lawsuit should proceed.
The Supreme Court's order on Monday means that the Supreme Court has agreed that the case can be reviewed.
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