The Supreme Court has granted certiorari in a case I’ve covered for years: the Little Sisters of the Poor, their religious objection to the Obama-era contraceptive mandate, and whether or not they should have a religious exemption from it. I’m sure it’s a relief for them to present their case to the highest court in the land through their attorneys at Becket, but it’s still unfortunate they have had to litigate this case at all.
The Little Sisters even allude to this in their petition of certiorari, not because their legal case is weak, but because Pennsylvania and California never should have sued to prevent religious exemptions in the first place. Because they did, the Supreme Court will be forced to deal with aspects of this issue that have never been fully resolved.
“Those new rules were challenged, however, by several states, resulting in a nationwide injunction on the theory that RFRA and the Affordable Care Act not only do not require, but do not even allow, the religious exemption rules. That nationwide injunction has stagnated other cases, and it conflicts with the judgments of many courts that have issued final orders affirmatively requiring comparable exemptions under RFRA. The rights of religious objectors — including the Little Sisters’ right to defend an exemption — remain very much at issue.”
In 2017, as a result of controversy around this issue, HHS upended the Obama contraceptive mandate and issued a new rule that allowed for religious exemptions which should have been in there since the beginning. As it was, the Obama administration violated the rights of religious groups by forcing them to act against their sincerely held religious beliefs. Despite that, Pennsylvania and California sued in federal court claiming that religious exemption isn’t something HHS can provide and that organizations such as the Little Sisters should still have to provide contraception, contrary to their beliefs, because the mandate says so.
Observing this gross injustice of federal law, the Little Sisters intervened in the lawsuit to carry the baton, as it were, and represent the rights of religious objectors in court. Becket’s senior counsel, Diana Verm, explained to me why it’s imperative the Little Sisters get their case heard.
The Obama HHS contraceptive mandate should never have applied to religious organizations (it never should have existed at all, but that’s for another piece). Both the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act dictate that the government only has so much control over religious organizations, and they certainly can’t force them to do things that violate their belief systems. That Pennsylvania and California believe this is not the case is a testament to their petty abilities to meddle in religious objector issues far beyond their scope of concern, let alone control.
What interest does the state have in forcing anyone to give anyone else birth control, least of all celibate, selfless nuns? It’s so ironic it’d be funny — if it weren’t costing said nuns their precious time and resources.
As Mother Loraine Marie Maguire of the Little Sisters of the Poor said in a statement, “It is disappointing to think that as we enter a new decade we must still defend our ministry in court. We are grateful the Supreme Court has decided to weigh in, and hopeful that the Justices will reinforce their previous decision and allow us to focus on our lifelong work of serving the elderly poor once and for all.”
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner‘s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
