Unfortunately for the nuns, this victory might not mean the end of their legal battles. Join the millions of people who benefit from The Daily Signal’s fair, accurate, trustworthy reporting with direct access to: Don’t have time to read the Washington Post or New York Times? The contraceptive mandate initially included exemptions for churches and an “accommodation” for certain religious organizations, but still required many others with sincere religious objections to provide coverage. Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., is the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow in American Principles and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, where he researches and writes about marriage, bioethics, religious liberty and political philosophy.
Solicitor General Francisco argues that the unlike other robocalls, calls to collect government backed debt serve a "significant public and governmental interest in protecting the federal, Ruth Bader Ginsburg participates in Supreme Court arguments from hospital, she is being treated for a benign gallbladder condition, Barr urges Trump administration to back off call to fully strike down Obamacare, Clarence Thomas breaks silence on bench during Supreme Court's first remote oral argument. But the court stopped short of invalidating the entire law. Pennsylvania and New Jersey quickly filed lawsuits, securing a nationwide injunction in federal court. Donate now. The religious exemptions as defined by the current administration appropriately counter this.”. The lower courts agreed with Pennsylvania and New Jersey, stopping the new rules from going into effect. [T]hey commit to constantly living out a witness that proclaims the unique, inviolable dignity of every person, particularly those whom others regard as weak or worthless. Chief Justice John Roberts asked the administration at one point whether its rule might sweep too broadly. While ultimately voting with the majority, Kagan explained in a concurring opinion that while she believed the relevant departments did have “statutory authority to exempt certain employers from the mandate,” she also believes the accommodation made for the Little Sisters was broad enough that it could still be invalidated under the federal Administrative Procedure Act. That injunction evoked several questions Wednesday from normally taciturn Justice Clarence Thomas. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose vote could also be key, stressed the "strong interests" on both sides. Anderson is the author of several books and his research has been cited by two U.S. Supreme Court justices in two separate cases. Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer indicated in their concurrence that they think the new rules “give every appearance of coming up short” of the standard of “reasonableness.”. We further hold that the rules promulgating these exemptions are free from procedural defects. Ben Shapiro Examines Hard Questions in New Book, ‘Plot to Change America’ Driven by Identity Politics, 3 Key Concepts That Woke ‘Anti-Racists’ Believe, Uncovering the Origins of Identity Politics, Liberals’ Complaints About the Coming Supreme Court Vote Don’t Pass the Smell Test, Civilization Requires Collective Common Sense, We Hear You: A Vice President, a Constitution, and a Time for Adults, We Hear You: Taking on the Left, Even in Blue States, We Hear You: From Gender Identity in Sports to Second Amendment Rights, We Hear You: From Misery in San Francisco to Impeachment in Senate, This Group’s Mission Is to Raise Next Generation of American Patriots, Why House Republicans, and Maybe Some Democrats, Want to Remove Speaker Nancy Pelosi, How Black Lives Matter Is Being Used to Further a Communist Agenda, William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow in American Principles and Public Policy, Deep policy understanding from over 100 experts. Supreme Court with Barrett would strengthen a broken Congress, Accurate vote count before Electoral College convenes is in serious jeopardy. here for reprint permission. Twenty states and the District of Columbia support the states as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 185 other members of Congress.

Click The Daily Signal depends on the support of readers like you. The Little Sisters of the Poor, who run a number of homes for the elderly in the United States and around the world, can be exempted from the requirement to … Click to Read More Why are some in the government so determined to force a group of Catholic nuns to violate their beliefs? The Little Sisters and other groups are fighting to reinstate the Trump Administration rule, and are being defended by the nonprofit law firm Becket Law. @RyanTAnd Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience. Thomas has often criticized the relatively new phenomenon of lower courts barring a policy from taking effect across the country while appeals play out. The Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic institution that provides support for the elderly poor, refused to comply, as did other religious employers, sparking years of litigation. - All rights reserved. between commenters. Washington (CNN)The Supreme Court on Wednesday grappled with the Trump administration's attempt to weaken the so-called contraceptive mandate, the Affordable Care Act's long controversial requirement that employer-provided health insurance plans cover birth control as a preventive service. ©2013 - 2020 American Greatness. Your submission has been received! But Pennsylvania's Attorney General Josh Shapiro, joined by New Jersey's attorney general, told the Supreme Court that the lower court got it right.

“What we do challenge is whether … what they are saying rises to the level of a substantial burden, which is, ultimately, a legal test.”. All rights reserved. “The one thing we should have learned from years of litigation over the Affordable Care Act and its contraceptive mandate in particular is that the courts do not come to uniform decisions in this area,” Mr. Clement said. "This approach," Shapiro said, "balances the employers' sincere religious belief with the health of their female employees.".

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As Kay Coles James, president of The Heritage Foundation, noted: “This ruling preserves fundamental religious liberties and is good news for all Americans, regardless of faith.”. Thank you! "I don't understand" why this can't be worked out, he said. “No, we’re not saying that at all,” said Michael J. Fischer, Pennsylvania’s chief deputy attorney general.

LifeSiteNews gives priority to pro-life, pro-family commenters and reserves the right to edit or A federal appeals court ruled last year in favor of the political organizations, holding that the government-debt exception to the law violated the First Amendment because it banned some calls based on content, but allowed other types. The exemptions would now cover “not only churches and their integrated auxiliaries, but also other not-for-profit, education, and for-profit entities that have sincere religious or moral objections to providing contraceptive coverage.”, The Little Sisters of the Poor and similar groups would not have to provide the objectionable contraceptive coverage. In November 2018, the Trump administration announced two final rules to protect Americans from being forced to subsidize abortion in government-mandated health insurance plan, one to cover conscience objections on the basis of “sincerely held religious beliefs,” and another for small businesses and nonprofits with non-religious moral objections. Read his Heritage research. | Legal Information | Privacy Policy. and View Comments, Terms of Use / Privacy Policy / Manage Newsletters. The Obama administration had first mandated that employers subsidize the provision of contraceptives, including abortifacient drugs, to their employees under the auspices of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare. religious freedom, America’s Talking is a registered trademark of Braveheart Media Holdings LLC. That, they said, made them complicit in providing the morally objectionable contraception. The case is likely to come before the Supreme Court again. Photo: (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images). As Justice Samuel Alito noted in his concurring opinion, Pennsylvania and New Jersey are “all but certain” to immediately pursue the arguments the court declined to decide in this case; namely, whether the new rule is “arbitrary and capricious.”. “We now send these cases back to the lower courts, where the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the State of New Jersey are all but certain to pursue their argument that the current rule is flawed on yet another ground,” Alito wrote. Additionally, the applicable agencies had clearly followed the proper process for issuing the new rules. One exemption, added by Congress in 2015, concerns calls related to debts owed to the federal government. Now the Justice Department is appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.