Challenges to Obamacare’s legal standing remain even after the Supreme Court issued another victory for the law’s supporters last week. Thirty-nine public school districts in Indiana have an ongoing lawsuit arguing that Obamacare violates their 10th Amendment right to state sovereignty, according to the Indianapolis Star.
The lawsuit focuses on Obamacare’s employer mandate, under which firms with 50 or more full-time employees must provide health insurance or pay a fine. The mandate also applies to government employers.
If successful, the case would likely invalidate the mandate on government employers, but businesses would still fall under the mandate.
The case is being decided by U.S. District Judge William Lawrence, who had put the case on hold until the Supreme Court decided King v. Burwell. Lawrence will now decide whether schools can make their case based off the 10th Amendment.
The schools already provide health insurance to full-time employees, although they use a different hourly threshold than the 30 hours per week threshold in Obamacare. As a result, the districts have had to cut hours for support staff, such as bus drivers and teachers’ aides.
Indiana’s attorney general, Greg Zoeller, joined the federal suit.
In a separate case, Obamacare is being challenged on the grounds that the bill did not originate in the House of Representatives. The Constitution requires all revenue-raising bills to start in the House. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously denied the lawsuit last year, but the plaintiffs have asked for an unlikely rehearing.
In another legal challenge, House Republicans filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration’s use of executive power in implementing Obamacare. That challenge is pending while a federal judge decides whether the House can sue the executive branch over a policy disagreement.
