U.S. Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WordNews.org) July 8, 2020 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 today in favor of the Trump administration’s exemption of religious employers from the Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare) requirement to provide insurance coverage for contraception and other abortion-inducing drugs and devices in their health insurance plans.

The case is titled, Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania.

Christian legal firm Liberty Counsel sent out an e-blast with the headline “Little Sisters Win Again.”

Liberty Counsel said the opinion is based solely upon the language of Obamacare that provides broad authority for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to promulgate rules defining what is to be included in the law’s requirement of “preventative care and screenings” in health insurance plans.

Following the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, that held the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) protected the for-profit employer from having to provide contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs and devices, and subsequent directives from the Court, HHS under the Trump Administration provided exemptions for religious and moral reasons.

Several states sued the Trump Administration over the new rule exempting Little Sisters.

“The only question we face today is what the plain language of the statute authorizes,” said Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority. “And the plain language of the statute clearly allows the departments to create the preventive care standards as well as the religious and moral exemptions.”

The Court continued, “In light of our holding that the ACA provided a basis for both exemptions, we need not reach these arguments. . . . Particularly in the context of these cases, it was appropriate for the Departments to consider RFRA. As we have explained, RFRA “provide[s] very broad protection for religious liberty.” [quoting Hobby Lobby].

While not deciding RFRA as it relates to faith-based employers, the Court went on to write, “It is clear from the face of the statute that the contraceptive mandate is capable of violating RFRA.”

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver praised today’s ruling.

“Today is a great victory for religious employers,” he said. “Thanks to the Trump administration for recognizing the need to protect religious employers from mandates that conflict with religious and moral beliefs about the sanctity of human life.”

Staver said the Trump administration stands in stark contrast to the Obama administration, which he said “put the federal government on a collision course with the right of religious employers to exist and carry on their mission consistent with their faith.”

“While the Court did not rule on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Staver added, “the opinion made clear that it provides broad protection to religious employers from government mandates that collide with their religious and moral beliefs.”