Supreme Court revives challenge to Obama health law
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(Reuters) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday revived a challenge to President Barack Obama's health care reforms, allowing a Christian college to pursue litigation raising First Amendment objections to a law that the court mostly upheld in June.
Liberty University, based in Lynchburg, Va., had challenged 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.
In September 2011, a federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., said it lacked jurisdiction because challenging the mandates would have violated the federal Anti-Injunction Act's ban on lawsuits seeking to halt collection of a tax.
The Supreme Court did not include Liberty's appeal among the cases it reviewed 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.
But the university asked for a rehearing, saying that because the 4th Circuit was wrong to decide it lacked jurisdiction, its decision should be thrown out, and a new lawsuit should proceed.
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