Judge dismisses Liberty U. challenge to health care law

Credit: MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE

The dean of Liberty University's law school says he believes the federal health care plan will be overturned.

By: RAY REED | The News & Advance
Published: December 01, 2010

Liberty University’s lawsuit challenging the new federal health care law has been dismissed by U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon in Lynchburg.

Mat Staver, dean of Liberty’s law school, said he would take the case immediately to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Liberty’s case will be on a fast track, ahead of all other lawsuits challenging the health care law, Staver said.

“I am confident that the federal health care law will eventually be struck down” by the U.S. Supreme Court, Staver said.

Moon ruled Tuesday that the health care law complies with the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause — a key point not only in Liberty University’s lawsuit, but also in challenges by Virginia and 19 other states that are attacking the law in federal courts.

A ruling on Virginia’s lawsuit against the health care law, filed by Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, is expected to come later this month from U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson in Richmond.

Opponents of the law argue that it stretches the Constitution’s Commerce Clause because it would force individuals to buy health insurance. Never before has a law flatly required people to buy something, they argue.

Moon’s dismissal of Liberty University’s lawsuit based on its merits “tees up the Commerce Clause challenge” and other points of LU’s lawsuit to be heard by the appeals court, Staver said.

Moon also rejected LU’s claim that the law violates the Christian university’s religious rights by, in essence, forcing it to subsidize coverage for abortions. The abortion aspect makes Liberty’s case different from the health care lawsuits brought by elected officials in 20 states.

“Actually, it’s the best-case scenario for us,” Staver said, because Moon upheld some aspects of Liberty’s argument. Moon found that LU had legal standing to bring its lawsuit, and that the case was ready for trial.

Staver said he expects to argue LU’s case before the appeals court in March or April, making it the “first case at the court of appeals levels where we can address the merits of the health care law.”

The case could reach the U.S. Supreme Court by next fall or early 2012, Staver said.

Department of Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said the department was pleased with Moon’s ruling and would continue to defend the law.

Moon became the second federal judge to dismiss a health care lawsuit. A federal judge in Detroit dismissed a Christian legal group’s challenge, but that ruling has not yet been appealed.

Judge dismisses Liberty U. challenge to health care law

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