The Supreme Court has revived a Christian college’s challenge to Obamacare.
Monday, the High Court granted a petition for rehearing of Liberty University’s challenge to President Barack Obama’s signature health care legislation, ordering the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., to take the case.
“I am very pleased with the High Court’s ruling. Today’s ruling breathes new life into our challenge to ObamaCare,” said Liberty University School of Law Dean Mat Staver. Our fight against ObamaCare is far from over.”
The Christian college, founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, filed suit against the Affordable Care Act in 2010 but a federal judge rejected the legal challenge. An appeals court later ruled that the suit was premature.
When the Supreme Court upheld the health care legislation in June 2012 it rejected pending appeals against the health care law, including Liberty University’s.
But Liberty asked the court to reconsider its argument that Obamacare’s employer mandate violates the school’s right to religious freedom. Staver said the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling didn’t decide on that claim.
The high court agreed Monday.
“Congress exceeded its power by forcing every employer to provide federally mandated insurance,” Staver added. “But even more shocking is the abortion mandate, which collides with religious freedom and the rights of conscience.”
The Liberty University case, reports The Christian Post, joins 40 other Affordable Care Act challenges that argue the law is a threat to religious liberty — largely due to its requirement that employer-provided health care plans cover contraception.