The Supreme Court said this week that they’ll hear an appeal of the latest challenge to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. 

The case, formerly called Texas v. Azar is now called California v. Texas. The case was originally filed in 2018 by Arizona and 19 other states. It revolves around a provision in the ACA known as the “individual mandate,” which required people to buy health insurance or pay a financial penalty. Congress eliminated that penalty in 2017.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last December that the individual mandate was invalid after the tax penalty for not having insurance went to zero, effectively ending the mandate. The 5th Circuit panel remanded back to the Texas District Court (where it came from) and asked for clarifications from the lower court judge, who struck down the law in its entirety in 2018 because the penalty is now zero. It’ll now go straight to the Supreme’s.

If the Supreme Court didn’t hear the case now, it would have been sent back to the District court first- delaying the hearing for a year or more. If the case follows a normal pattern from here, arguments would happen this Fall with a decision in mid-2021.