The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered a federal appeals court to rehear a Christian university’s challenge to the health reform law in Liberty University v. Geithner.
Reviving the case creates the possibility that the High Court may rule on the case itself sometime in 2013, which would make it the second challenge to health reform to reach that level.
On Nov. 26, the High Court vacated its earlier order denying reconsideration, and granted the school’s motion for certiorari. It remanded the case to 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for further consideration. Estimates are that the appeals court will render a ruling in early summer 2013.
The Lynchburg, Va.-based school objects to the health reform law’s coverage mandates on religious grounds. But after the June 2012 NFIB v. Sebelius ruling upheld the individual mandate, the Court struck the university’s lawsuit and denied the school’s motion for a rehearing.
After the NFIB ruling, in October 2012, Liberty filed an amended motion for rehearing contending that its freedom-of-religion questions were not resolved in the June 2012 Supreme Court decision.
Importantly, the federal government dropped its opposition, saying that while it would oppose the university’s arguments, those arguments had not been resolved in the June 2012 NFIB ruling.