Dozens of states and religious groups are asking the Supreme Court this fall to take up a second case revolving around the Obama administration’s birth control mandate.
They want the justices to consider whether the administration has provided religious hospitals, schools and charities a sufficient exemption from its requirement to provide employers with birth control coverage, or whether their religious freedom is being violated.
Twenty states, six orders of nuns, a group of Orthodox Jewish rabbis, a leading Southern Baptist seminary and other groups submitted briefs to the court Monday, petitioning it to take up a case brought by Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic religious order.
While the administration is requiring most employers to provide birth control coverage, it has provided an accommodation to some religious-affiliated groups, saying they must only sign a form allowing a third party to provide the coverage instead. But Little Sisters and others contend that even having to sign a form makes them complicit in providing birth control, which they oppose on religious grounds.
“We simply ask the government to allow us to continue our ministry of caring for the elderly poor as we have for over 175 years without being forced to violate our faith or pay government fines,” said Sister Loraine Marie Maguire, mother provincial for Little Sisters of the Poor.
On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled that Little Sisters doesn’t have to comply while the case proceeds. But four other federal appeals courts have ruled against challengers and with the Obama administration.
The Supreme Court ruled last summer that Hobby Lobby and other privately-held corporations can avail themselves of the accommodation. The Supreme Court is expected to say this fall whether it will hear the case. Many experts think it likely the court will choose to take it up.
“This strong show of support for the Little Sisters demonstrates just how important it is that the Supreme Court address the impact of the … mandate, particularly on religious groups,” said Mark Rienzi, counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing Little Sisters).
