Liberty University announced Thursday that it will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its lawsuit over Obamacare's employer mandate, the Christian Post reports. A decision early Thursday by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting Liberty's suit provided the opportunity for the petition. "I am glad the court reached the merits on the employer mandate, even though the court got it wrong, because this clears the way for the case to now go to the Supreme Court," said Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, which is representing Liberty University in the case. The fourth Circuit ruled the employer mandate is constitutional because the Constitution gives Congress the authority to regulate commerce among the states. "We find that the employer mandate is no monster," judges Diana Gribbon Motz, Andre M. Davis and James A. Wynn Jr. wrote. "Rather, it is simply another example of Congress's longstanding authority to regulate employee compensation offered and paid for by employers in interstate commerce." The White House announced last week that the employer mandate will be delayed for a year, rather than going into effect on Oct. 1 as planned. The Fourth Circuit rejected Liberty's case in 2011 because it said it could not rule until the mandate went into effect. In June 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the individual mandate was not permitted under the Commerce Clause, but it did permit it under Congress' taxing authority. The Supreme Court also ordered the Fourth Circuit at that time to hear Liberty's case.
