Written by Don Byrd
Happy 2014 to all readers of the BJC Blog! This year promises to be one of the most eventful in a long time from a religious liberty perspective. Stick with the blog and follow me on Twitter (@bjcblog) to stay up to date on developments throughout this new year. And be in touch with your questions and insights on the stories you care most about.
Before we can get 2014 started, there is some unfinished business from last year. While many of us were in New Year’s Eve celebrations on December 31, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was issuing a last minute temporary injunction to the Little Sisters of the Poor in their challenge of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage mandate.
The Court is set to hear a pair of cases later this year that will likely resolve religious liberty questions about the mandate. In the meantime, January 1 was the date many religious organizations were required to either 1) begin providing the disputed coverage, 2) certify their religious objection to their health insurer so that employees can be offered such coverage separately, or 3) face fines.
Acting in the final hours of the year, Justice Sotomayor provided a temporary reprieve. The NYTimes reports:
The administration says it has exempted churches from the contraceptive coverage requirement and offered an accommodation to certain religious nonprofit groups. But the Becket Fund argued that “the ‘accommodation’ still forces the Little Sisters to find an insurer who will cover sterilization, contraceptive and abortion-inducing drugs and devices.”
“The Sisters would also be required to sign a form that triggers the start of that coverage,” it said. “In good conscience, they cannot do that. So the ‘accommodation’ still violates their religious beliefs.”
The injunction gives the Justice Department a Friday deadline to respond.
[UPDATE: Marty Lederman has a post at the blog Balkinization that is helpful in understanding the Little Sisters dispute, and how the case fits in the larger universe of contraception mandate challenges.]
