Federal Court Tosses Liberty Counsel's Suit Against Obamacare Mandate

 A federal appeals court yesterday threw out Liberty University's lawsuit against the Obamacare contraception mandate. The suit was brought by Liberty Counsel, the school's legal arm and one of the nation's major anti-gay hate groups.

A three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the employer mandate, which the Obama administration last week postponed until 2015, is constitutional. They said that neither the individual nor the employer mandates violate the school’s religious freedom. The panel rejected the contraception challenge on a technicality — not on the merits — because Liberty did not include that aspect in its first court filings in 2010 and a lower court never heard it. Dozens of court cases nationwide are testing whether employers who object to covering contraception on religious grounds can be required to do so.

Liberty Counsel head Mat Staver says he will take the case to the Supreme Court. Of course.