Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. –Today the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the government cannot fine the Little Sisters of the Poor.  The Supreme Court vacated the lower court rulings against the Little Sisters, accepting the government’s admission that it could meet its goals of providing the free services to women without involving the Little Sisters or using their plan.  The Court also ordered the lower Courts to help the government choose an alternative method of providing the services that does not require the participation of the Little Sisters. (see Sister Constance’s reaction here)

I knew it! Civil Rights do indeed trump (no pun or endorsement intended) religious freedom! So unless your religion also qualifies as a bona fide minority don’t expect much protection from the Bill of Rights any more. In a rare entrance into a politically charged controversy, first lady Michelle Obama used a commencement speech Saturday at Jackson State University in Mississippi to directly target the state’s recently-passed "religious freedom" bill. "We see it right here in Mississippi -- just two weeks ago -– how swiftly progress can hurtle backward," Obama said. "How easy it is to single out a small...

- A new survey says most Americans think the Obama administration’s federal contraception mandate is unfair to the Little Sisters of the Poor and other religious groups defending themselves before the U.S. Supreme Court. About 53 percent of Americans said the process required by the government is “unfair,” while only 32 percent did not, according to a new Marist Poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus. The federal government has exempted many other organizations’ employee health care plans from a requirement to provide contraception and drugs that can produce abortions. But it has no exemption for the Little Sisters of...

Many reporters attending oral arguments in the Supreme Court sit in assigned chairs on the far left side of the chamber. These chairs stand behind a double row of massive marble columns. Brass gates, some opened and some closed, stretch between the columns; burgundy curtains, pulled back by cords, hang behind them. Given their assigned seats, some reporters may not be able to see any of the justices holding forth at the front of the chamber. All they hear are their voices. Because the court only releases a transcript and audio recording of its arguments, the only Americans who definitely...

A few months ago, a young American woman named Kate decided to organize a choir in a refugee camp. To do so, she went to Germany, as a visiting guest artist at the American Academy in Berlin. She settled down around the block from a Red Cross building. Her camp is a gym with about 200 asylum-seekers, coming currently from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Moldova and Vietnam. Oh, to see the faces of the children Kate is working with as part of the Hutto Project, named after her late music teacher, Benjamin Hutto, who worked out of the National Cathedral...

FULL TITLE: The Little Sisters of the Poor Case Isn't About Contraception. It's About When the Government Can Force You to Violate Your Conscience. The real issue is more foundational, however: When an American says a law or regulation infringes on his conscience, under what circumstances should he be exempted from it, and under what circumstances should he be forced to comply anyway? It's a tricky question to which there isn't a fully established answer (though I've ruminated on the topic before). As Justice Stephen Breyer put it today, "I'm [still] trying to find the distinction between those things we...

When the government demands that the Little Sisters of the Poor bend the knee to a mandate that they provide free abortifacients and contraceptives, you can add this to the list of low moments in our nation’s religious-liberty history: Baptist preachers flogged and jailed in 1770s Virginia for singing hymns in public or preaching without a state license; Governor Lilburn Boggs’s 1838 directive that state police drive Mormons from Missouri or “exterminate” them; General Ulysses S. Grant’s 1862 order expelling Jews from Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi for alleged war profiteering; the passage of Blaine Amendments in most state constitutions, to...

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a group of cases challenging the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that non-profit employers offer health-care coverage that includes contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization. The challengers in the consolidated cases, captioned Zubik v. Burwell, include Little Sisters of the Poor, Priests for Life, and a variety of religious non-profits. Many of the arguments that have been put forth in support of the plaintiffs involve conscience rights. These are important arguments that certainly deserve attention. However, in the amicus brief I filed in on behalf of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, I emphasized public-health...

Members of the United States Congress have voiced their support for the Little Sisters of the Poor before their case is argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday. “We talk a lot about public service up here. Well, these are the people who live it,” House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) said of the sisters on the House Floor on Tuesday, noting that they serve the poor in 31 countries. “They are the definition of public service.” On Wednesday, oral arguments for Zubik v. Burwell will take place at the Supreme Court. The case is a bundle of seven cases against...

This is the kind of case the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia liked to sink his judicial teeth into -- whether the federal government can compel a religious entity like the Little Sisters of the Poor to violate their religious beliefs and acquiesce to the ObamaCare contraceptive coverage mandate. As LifeSite News reported on Wednesday’s hearing: This week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of the Little Sisters of the Poor, a 175-year-old religious order of women who have vowed their lives to care for the elderly poor.

If you were totally avoiding the internet today, or if you live under a particularly pleasant and comfortable rock, maybe you don’t know that the federal government and a bunch of nuns are duking it out before the Supreme Court over birth control. More to the point, they’re fighting over the Little Sisters of the Poors’ refusal to subsidize contraception and abortion-causing drugs for their employees via their health insurance coverage, all of whom, by the way, are mandated by the President Obama’s signature eponymous government overreach law to purchase their own health insurance. Well, fair’s fair, right? I mean,...

Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz  4% said “d***” in front of the Supreme Court building while the Little Sisters of the Poor were there demonstrating. Wasserman Schultz was speaking to a group of Planned Parenthood supporters who were there while the court was hearing oral arguments in the case of Zubik v. Burwell. The Little Sisters of the Poor are one of many plaintiffs who are asking to be exempting from the federal government requirement to cover contraceptives in their health-care plans. “Those rights that we secured must remain in place and while we’re at it this...

In oral arguments in the Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked an attorney representing East Texas Baptist University, Southern Nazarene University, Geneva College and the Little Sisters of the Poor whether the United States government would ever be able to function if it could not demand that people do things that those people believe will cause their souls to “be damned in some way.” “Because every believer that’s ever come before us, including the people in the military, are saying that my soul will be damned in some way,” said Sotomayor. “I’m not naysaying that that is a very...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Moments ago, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of the Little Sisters of the Poor, a 175-year-old religious order of women who care for the elderly poor. The Little Sisters have asked the Supreme Court for protection from a government mandate that is forcing them to provide services against their beliefs. Little Sister gives landmark statement following Supreme Court hearing The following statement can be attributed to Sister Loraine Marie Maguire, Mother Provincial for the Little Sisters of the Poor: LITTLE SISTERS POOR “Hello, my name is Sister Loraine Marie Clare. The Lord has given me...

FULL TITLE: Daily Beast Writer Twists Scripture to Say Jesus Would Oppose Nuns Challenging Contraceptive Mandate In Court It's always galling when the liberal media rip Scripture out of context to rebuke conservative orthodox Christians for their beliefs and actions, but there's arguably added insult when it happens during Holy Week and the group in question are mostly elderly nuns. According to the Daily Beast's Jay Michaelson, not only is the lawsuit by the Little Sisters of the Poor against the Obama administration over the contraceptive mandate based on "tortured logic," it's sinful. Writing in his March 23 piece, "Christian...

SAN FRANCISCO — Little Sister of the Poor Rose Cantu remembers the first time she saw the women religious who inspired her to embrace the Catholic Church as her spiritual home. “What drew me to the faith was the joy on the sisters’ faces as they cared for the elderly,” Sister Rose told the Register, as she recalled her pivotal visit to the order’s home as a teenage volunteer. “Witnessing their faith in action led me to ask more questions about the God they worshipped.” Almost two decades later, Sister Rose is a registered nurse who serves the elderly poor...

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in the case the Little Sisters of the Poor and 37 pro-life groups, universities and companies have filed against the HHS mandate, which forces them to pay for abortion-causing drugs in their employee health care plans. The case, Zubik v. Burwell, involves 37 religious nonprofits such as charities and universities that say the HHS mandate violates their religious beliefs. They say the religious accommodation the Obama administration put together still makes them complicit in covering the abortion-causing drugs. “Hijacking. It seems to me that’s an accurate description of what the government wants to...

Oral arguments in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell have concluded at the Supreme Court. The Little Sisters of the Poor are a Catholic religious order that is dedicated to serving the elderly poor in nursing homes. They are opposed to the HHS Contraception Mandate, arguing that it will force them to violate their religious beliefs. As the order does not discriminate in who they hire and care for (meaning that they care for and employ people of all faith backgrounds), they are not considered to be a religious employer and are therefore not eligible for an exemption to...

Update: In 2014, we told you about a challenge to Obamacare's contraception mandate filed in Denver by Little Sisters of the Poor, an organization jointly based here and in Baltimore; we've incorporated elements of our previous coverage into this post. The Sisters lost that case, but they haven't given up their fight. Today, the matter is being heard at the U.S. Supreme Court. Among the groups that have supported the Little Sisters of the Poor is the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which describes itself as "a non-profit, public-interest legal and educational institute with a mission to protect the free...

Outside the Supreme Court this morning, pro-life advocates are rallying for the Little Sisters of the Poor, who are challenging Obama’s HHS mandate today at the Supreme Court. In the next major battle in the pro-life fight against the HHS mandate, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for Little Sisters of the Poor’s challenge to the Obama HHS mandate. The nation’s highest court will hear debate from attorneys representing the Catholic religious order and the Obama administration on Wednesday. The Little Sisters of the Poor are asking the nation’s highest court to ensure they do not have to comply...