Scene outside the U.S. SupremeCourt on the day the court issued its ruling in the PatientProtection and Affordable Care Act case, June 28, 2012. (Photo:Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

The U.S. House of Representatives and a Democratic group ofstate attorneys general on Friday placed the issue of theAffordable Care Act before the Supreme Court yet again, asking thejustices to review an appellate court decision that struck down thehealth care law's individual mandate as unconstitutional.

Alongside their petitionsfor writ of certiorari filed with the court, both the stateofficials and the House separately asked the justices to take upthe matter on an expedited basis and schedule oral arguments forthis spring.

If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to follow that schedule, thatmeans an opinion could come down just months ahead of the 2020 presidential election, placing health careat the heart of the political debate.

Related: 5 possible effects of the ACA ruling, foragents

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled last month that the individual mandate in Obamacare wasunconstitutional but remanded the matter back down to the districtcourt to determine whether it could be severed from the rest of thelaw.

"The actions of the lower courts have cast doubt on hundreds ofother statutory provisions that together regulate a substantialportion of the nation's economy," the state petition reads."States, health insurers, and millions of Americans rely on thoseprovisions when making important—indeed,life-changing—decisions."

And the House's petition, signed on by former Solicitor GeneralDonald Verrilli, who previously defended the Affordable CareAct before the Supreme Court, said the Fifth Circuit ruling "hascreated an intolerable situation."

"The debilitating effects of this massive uncertainty willpersist for years if the Court does not grant review now," theHouse document reads. "It is thus imperative that this Court grantcertiorari promptly to resolve the vitally important questionspresented in this petition."

House general counsel Douglas Letter is listed as the counsel of record for the House'scase. New York andCalifornia are among a coalition of Democratic states that filed aseparate cert petition.

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has taken up theAffordable Care Act's individual mandate. The court in 2012, in a5-4 opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, found that themandate could exist in the form of a tax.

But after Republicans repealed the tax penalty, a group ofGOP-led states sued, claiming the individual mandate couldn't existwithout it. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor agreed, and ruledthat the entire health care law was therefore unconstitutional, adecision widely panned by scholars.

The Fifth Circuit's ruling asked O'Connor to take another lookat whether the mandate could be separated from the rest of the law.Whether the Supreme Court will agree to hear the case before thelower court review is completed is an open question.

If enough justices sign on to take the case, the remainder ofthis term's docket will be packed with high-profile cases,including fights over subpoenas for President Donald Trump'spersonal tax records.

Add in the upcoming Senate impeachment trial, which Roberts willpreside over, and the Supreme Court is all but certain to be at theheight of public attention as voters prepare to make their finaldecisions in the 2020 election.

Read more:

• IRS cuts ACA individual mandate penalty out of taxforms
• Industry reactions to the Fifth-Circuit Court's ACAruling
• What would happen if the ACA wentaway?