Religious freedom groups came out victorious after the Biden administration missed a deadline last week to appeal a federal court ruling that struck down a transgender Department of Health and Human Services mandate.
The mandate, which was issued under former President Barack Obama and carried over into the Biden administration, required doctors and medical facilities to perform gender reassignment surgeries on any patient, including minors, even if such procedures went against sincerely held religious beliefs or medical judgment.
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APPEALS COURT WEIGHS IF BIDEN HHS CAN FORCE DOCTORS TO PERFORM TRANSGENDER SURGERIES
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit struck down the mandate on Aug. 26, holding that religious groups cannot be required to conduct gender-transition surgeries and citing the Supreme Court precedent established in the 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision.
While the 2020 high court case set the precedent for the Civil Rights Act to protect employees against discrimination if they are gay or transgender, the court’s opinion underscored that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which ensures that religious freedom interests are protected, “operates as kind of a super statute,” according to the Bostock decision.
“This is one of the cases in which religious freedom law justifies an exemption from the sort of requirements that Bostock imposed,” Joe Davis, counsel for Becket, a religious liberty nonprofit group that provided legal counsel to the healthcare networks, told the Washington Examiner.
“In the very same breath, the majority opinion of Bostock said, ‘RFRA might supersede’ [gender identity discrimination law] including in this very context. And in appropriate cases, there should be exemptions under RFRA,” Davis added.
On July 25, HHS announced a proposed rule to strengthen nondiscrimination for transgender procedures under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, arguing it was consistent with the Bostock decision. The proposal also said it would refine and strengthen “the process for raising conscience and religious freedom objections.”
But 5th Circuit Judge Don Willett said HHS “repeatedly refused to disavow enforcement” against Franciscan Help of a 2016 rule and a 2021 interpretation of a section of the ACA that blocks discrimination on the basis of sex, Willett wrote. The department “concedes that it may” enforce the section against Franciscan Help, the judge added.
The administration had until Friday, Nov. 25, to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Luke Goodrich of Becket lauded the deadline’s passing as “great news.”
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“Many see the procedures as physically harmful with no psychological benefits—especially when performed on children,” Goodrich tweeted, referencing an informational webpage about the mandate composed by Becket. “The ruling was a successful step in the fight to protect doctors’ conscience rights.”
A case being challenged on similar merits is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. On Jan. 21, a district court for the District of North Dakota Eastern Division struck down the mandate. The federal government appealed the ruling to the circuit court, and a decision is expected in the coming weeks.
