RICHMOND, Va. Judges on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday appeared skeptical that Liberty University can challenge the Obama administrations rule that most employers provide contraceptives in their employee health plans.

But at least one of the judges suggested that the health reform laws employer mandate could be at risk since last years Supreme Court health care ruling narrowed the Commerce Clause.

In addition to saying that the health laws employer mandate is beyond Congresss legislative authority, Liberty University attorneys argued that Obamacares individual and employer mandates violate their religious freedoms. They say it requires the school to cover contraceptives and other drugs that they say can cause abortions.

Obama administration lawyers said Liberty didnt include that complaint about birth control in its original claim the suit was first filed in 2010 but was largely put on hold as the Supreme Court case against the health law advanced so the school cant add that argument now.

The judges suggested in several questions that they might agree, given that Liberty filed its claim years before the regulation was released.

This case is very different from the case you filed a couple years ago, said Judge Andre Davis, who was appointed by President Barack Obama.

Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver said the university had always raised concerns that the law would require abortion coverage. He said its a pressing issue as the school will be subject to millions of dollars in fines starting in August.

The hammer is about ready to fall on Liberty, he said.

Dozens of other institutions are challenging the birth control issue but did not file their suits until after the proposed regulations were released.

While the panel of judges suggested they might not even rule on the birth control issue, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, spent a significant amount of time pulling out of Justice Department lawyer Alisa Klein whether the preventive coverage provision requires all insurance plans to cover abortion and drugs that Liberty says can cause abortions.

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