The Supreme Court has issued a unanimous per curiam opinion in the Little Sisters of the Poor case.
Advertisement
The justices on Monday issued an unsigned opinion in a case surrounding the arrangement by the Obama administration to spare religious groups from having to pay for birth control for women covered under their health plans if they object, while ensuring that women covered under their plans can still obtain birth control.
But the groups said the accommodation was not enough, and would still involve them in providing coverage that they say violates their religious beliefs.
In its ruling Monday, the court said it is not deciding whether the religious exercise of the challengers has been substantially “burdened”.
The decision ducks, for now, a high-profile dispute before the Supreme Court at the height of an election year – at a time when the court is dealing with a vacancy following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The central dispute revolves around a requirement these groups self-certify – and sign a form authorizing an outside administrator to provide contraceptives without the employers’ direct involvement.
The Little Sisters and other plaintiffs say that since sending the government their objection is the action that prompts the coverage through their own health plans, they are forced to act as “gatekeepers” and “facilitate” the objectionable coverage.
The justices could have issued a 4-4 decision upholding all lower court rulings, but they differed from one part of the country to another. Eventually the full appeals court ruled in its favor but the Obama administration appealed.
But the court seemed to cut both ways with its language.
Advertisement
EWTN had filed a petition on May 4 asking the 11 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to rehear its case challenging the HHS contraception mandate. For the time being, therefore, the rule applies in most of the country, but not in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.
