The Fourth Circuit cases jump to the head of the line

The ACA case currently furthest along in briefing before a Court of Appeals is Thomas More Law Center v. Obama, for which all the briefs have now been filed at the Sixth Circuit. The appellants have now asked the court to expedite oral argument and a decision. In that expedite request, though, the appellants (unopposed by the United States, apparently) have asked that the court hear the case during its session that runs from May 30 to June 10. Thus, even if the court grants the motion to expedite, the case would be heard roughly a month after the Fourth Circuit hears arguments in Virginia v. Sebelius and Liberty University v. Geithner. As a result, the Fourth Circuit cases are now in the lead, so to speak, in the race to the Supreme Court. (For reasons I explained earlier today, though, the Court may well wait for Florida v. HHS.)