NATIONWIDE -- In a Texas-led challenge to Obamacare, a federal appeals court has ruled the Affordable Care Act's "individual mandate" is unconstitutional. But it punted on deciding whether the rest of the law should be tossed out.

The court is ordering a lower court judge to reconsider whether Obamacare should remain intact.

After Congress zeroed out the penalty for not having insurance, Texas and other Republican-led states brought the lawsuit arguing that means the whole health care law must be scrapped.  

Health policy analysts expect the issue could go all the way to the Supreme Court, which upheld Obamacare in a narrowly divided 2012 ruling.

Statement from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton: 

“I applaud the Fifth Circuit’s decision, which reassures the American people that the legal system can be held to its word. As the court’s opinion recognized, the only reason the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare in 2012 was Congress’ taxing power, and without the individual mandate’s penalty that justification crumbled. The Fifth Circuit correctly held that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, and we look forward to the opportunity to further demonstrate that Congress made the individual mandate the centerpiece of Obamacare and the rest of the law cannot stand without it.”