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Atkins: Contraceptives ruling a short-term win for religious nonprofits
Credit: The Associated Press
Nuns with the Little Sisters of The Poor, including Sister Celestine, left, and Sister Jeanne Veronique, center, rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington in this Wednesday, March 23, 2016 file photo as the court hears arguments regarding birth control in healthcare plans. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
WASHINGTON
— The U.S. Supreme Court punted on a challenge by religious nonprofit
groups to the Obamacare contraception mandate, sending the case back to
lower courts to allow the parties to work out a compromise among
themselves.
The nonprofit groups challenged an "opt-out" provision of the law which allowed such nonprofits to avoid providing no-cost contraception to employees only if the groups signed a form indicating a religious objection. The groups argued that requirement made them complicit in providing contraception against their religious beliefs.
Today's court ruling is the latest twist in an unusual case, which was argued before the court shortly after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, which left open the possibility of a 4-4 split.
After arguments, the court made the unusual move of ordering the federal government and the nonprofits to submit supplemental briefs in an effort to resolve the challenge, an apparent move to try to avoid a high court tie.
But today, rather than issuing a ruling, the justices ordered the parties to take another attempt to find their own solution.
The court said the move affords the parties "an opportunity to arrive at an approach going forward that accommodates petitioners’ religious exercise while at the same time ensuring that women covered by petitioners’ health plans receive full and equal health coverage, including contraceptive coverage.”
It is a short-term victory for the religious nonprofits objecting to the health care law's requirement because the lower court ruling against the groups was vacated and the government is prohibited from fining the groups while the case is being resolved. But the court also made clear in a separate order that the ruling does not "affect the ability of the Government to ensure that women covered by ... health plans obtain, without cost, the full range of FDA approved contraceptives.”
Developing...
The nonprofit groups challenged an "opt-out" provision of the law which allowed such nonprofits to avoid providing no-cost contraception to employees only if the groups signed a form indicating a religious objection. The groups argued that requirement made them complicit in providing contraception against their religious beliefs.
Today's court ruling is the latest twist in an unusual case, which was argued before the court shortly after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, which left open the possibility of a 4-4 split.
After arguments, the court made the unusual move of ordering the federal government and the nonprofits to submit supplemental briefs in an effort to resolve the challenge, an apparent move to try to avoid a high court tie.
But today, rather than issuing a ruling, the justices ordered the parties to take another attempt to find their own solution.
The court said the move affords the parties "an opportunity to arrive at an approach going forward that accommodates petitioners’ religious exercise while at the same time ensuring that women covered by petitioners’ health plans receive full and equal health coverage, including contraceptive coverage.”
It is a short-term victory for the religious nonprofits objecting to the health care law's requirement because the lower court ruling against the groups was vacated and the government is prohibited from fining the groups while the case is being resolved. But the court also made clear in a separate order that the ruling does not "affect the ability of the Government to ensure that women covered by ... health plans obtain, without cost, the full range of FDA approved contraceptives.”
Developing...
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