The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a request from 18 states to delay a key hearing on the states’ lawsuit to invalidate the Affordable Care Act.
The court ruled on Tuesday that the hearing scheduled for July 9 in New Orleans will continue. The appellate court is hearing an appeal to an earlier ruling that the ACA is unconstitutional.
A collection of 18 states and the Trump administration filed the lawsuit charging that the ACA is unconstitutional because the individual mandate penalty was zeroed out in tax reform.
The Trump administration supports the lawsuit, while 17 attorneys general and the District of Columbia are opposing it.
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The Fifth Circuit did not give a reason on why it will not delay the hearing. However, it will give both parties an extension until July 23 to file supplemental briefs in the case.
A federal judge in Texas sided with the red states in December 2018 that the law was unconstitutional, a decision immediately appealed to the Fifth Circuit.
The ACA remains in effect while the lawsuit makes its way through the federal courts.