Within hours of announcing its illegal decision to delay the employer mandate, the Obama administration on July 3 asked a federal court to block a legal challenge to the mandate, Liberty University v. Geithner, based on that delay. Today, the administration filed similar requests in Pruitt v. Sebelius and Halbig v. Sebelius. These actions confirm speculation that blocking these lawsuits—and especially Pruitt and Halbig—may have been the whole purpose of the delay.

I don’t have links yet, but the administration’s argument is weak and would not appear to impede any of the three cases. I hope to have more to say about this development soon.