Posted on 01/03/2014 9:09:40 AM PST by NYer
On Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued an order preventing the government from enforcing the Obamacare contraceptive mandate on the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Sotomayor’s decision to delay the contraceptive portion of the law was joined by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which also issued an emergency stay for Catholic-affiliated groups challenging the contraceptive provision, including the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and Catholic University.
Separately, Lawyer Noel J. Francisco had said in appeals to Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan that the mandate would “expose numerous Catholic organizations to draconian fines unless they abandon their religious convictions and take actions that facilitate access to abortion-inducing drugs, contraceptives and sterilization for their employees and students.”
In December of 2012, I reported that the Little Sisters of the Poor saw the very real threat of having to leave their apostolate in the United States if they could not gain an exemption from the HHS mandates on contraception and abortion coverage through the Affordable Care Act.
This morning, Matt Bowman brought to light the moral dilemma facing the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the reason why they can’t simply sign the required form designating a third party administrator to do, for lack of any other way of putting it, the dirty work for them:
Obamacare says that when an entity is in a self-insured plan, like the Little Sisters are, they must file a certification form. But it’s not like other certification forms that the rule requires. It does not merely express their religious objections. The form also, specifically and additionally, “designates” their “third party administrator” to go get the abortifacient and birth control payments. As I explained at Mirror of Justice, in a message posted by Prof. Marc DeGirolami:
The final regulation even points out that this added language is legally operative: the designation words themselves are what cause the TPA’s obligation to go get the coverage. Without the designation telling the TPA to go get that coverage, the TPA wouldn’t have any duty to be involved. … So it’s important to observe that for self-insured religious non-profits, there’s a “certification,” but there’s also a “designation”…. The designation is, by definition, an act of contracting and arranging for the coverage.
The government even conceded, in Cardinal Wuerl’s lawsuit, that “in the self-insured case, technically, the contraceptive coverage is part of the plan.” It’s not separate.
And yet today, the Associated Press is reporting that the Justice Department is now pressuring Justice Sotomayor to dissolve her stay. They are, it appears, using the same arguments:
The Justice Department Friday called on Justice Sonia Sotomayor to dissolve her stay on the contraceptive coverage requirement of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
The government says religious nonprofit groups can certify that they don’t want to provide contraceptive coverage. A group of Catholic nuns who run nursing homes sued, saying even signing that form violates their beliefs.
Government lawyers say the nuns’ insurance is a “church plan” that is not required to provide contraception coverage and has decided not to, so they have no legal basis to complain.
This relentless pursuit by the administration to gain acquiescence from religious institutions which morally object to the mandate is nothing short of religious persecution. It would be remarkable that the most progressive administration in US history is also the most intolerant, if history didn’t show us where the progressive path leads those nations that choose to follow it.
Catholic ping!
Again, they keep moving the ball and changing the rules.
She must have a very small file to blackmail her with if they haven’t bent her will by now.
Hmm, maybe we will get to see just how wise the Wise Latina really is. Or maybe just how independent the Judicial branch really is.
Thank You John Roberts. All of this horror story could have been avoided.
I believe Madison said that was the danger of this court.
There should be absolutely no contact between this court and any branch. The court is unique.
And it was given a job for "life" so no one would be beholding for a job when they left the bench.
Obama: “Wise up, Wise Latina. Or else.”
Aren’t muslims exempt from 0bamacare for religious reasons?
Supreme Court justices are immune from being blackmailed/cajoled...uh, nevermind.
I don't know what the end game is but I just don't believe the wise latina would jump ship on this issue at this time.
Secondly, it shows what a mess this grand plan is, was and will always be. It will lead to it being abolished. It needs to be reversed "FOREVER" just as prohibition was reversed...by a Constitutional amendment.
I agree. I think this is just smoke and mirrors.
One of the realities of living in our divided and rabidly partisan world is that once normal actions are exaggerated greatly into heinous acts. This is true of both left and right. The DoJ is responding to Sotomayor’s TRO. They are making a legal argument,a preposterous one but it’s their argument. Responding to a judge’s ruling is not in any way “pressuring” the judge. Are there pressures being applied behind closed doors? Maybe. But it’s not what this article is talking about.
It’s paperwork only...strictly procedural. Has nothing to do with her position.
Given that she was nominated by the demonstrably most idiotic president we’ve ever had, I had absolutely no respect for her.
However, she may have a bit more cojones (and undoubtedly more intelligence) than the DORK in chief.
Perhaps she’ll make a good justice after all.
This article is rather misleading in this one respect. The Obama Administration isn't "pressuring" Justice Sotomayor. When Justice Sotomayor issued the order in question, granting the temporary injunction, she requested that the Department of Justice file by today a written response, to the extent that Justice was arguing against the continuation of the injunction.
The Department of Justice has now filed its response, per Justice Sotomayor's request, that's all. That's how the process is supposed to work.
Is that true? Anyone have a source?
She appears to have a fondness for Catholic nuns. I wonder how easily that can be intimidated out of her.
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