Free Republic

IT HAS BEEN 52 years since the Supreme Court ruled, in Griswold v. Connecticut, that government may not ban anyone from using contraceptives. The freedom to use birth control is protected by the Constitution's "fundamental right" to privacy. That freedom is a matter of settled law and hasn't been challenged in the slightest by President Trump or his administration.But you wouldn't know that from the hysteria that erupted when the White House last week acted to uphold the conscience claims of employers who object to funding some types of contraception on sincere moral or religious grounds."The Trump administration just took...

Many of you know that for more than 4 years, I have been one of the leaders of the team representing religious organizations, mostly Catholic (including Bishop David Zubik, Bishop of Pittsburgh’s Catholic Diocese) in his case which was consolidated in the U.S. Supreme Court with the case brought by The Little Sisters of the Poor and cases brought by others, against the government over Obamacare’s “contraception mandate.” A great number of religious groups of all denominations filed “friend of the Court” briefs supporting our position that while contraception is and could be available to all who choose to use...

The Supreme Court punted Monday on a challenge by religious-affiliated employers to ObamaCare’s contraception mandate, sending the election-year dispute back to the lower courts. ADVERTISEMENT The justices had been considering whether religious-affiliated institutions like the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic charity of nuns, can be exempt from having to pay for -- or indirectly allow -- birth control and other reproductive coverage in their health plans. But the court did not rule on the merits. Instead, the justices sent the cases back to the appeals courts to make new decisions based on recent statements. “The Court expresses no...

Justices will give the Little Sisters of the Poor their day in court The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a challenge from religious organizations who say the government’s requirement that their health plans provide coverage for contraceptives violates their religious beliefs.The high court ruled last year, in the Hobby Lobby case, that the Health and Human Services contraception mandate violates for-profit businesses’ rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. But the new challenge examines how religious-operated groups, such as the Little Sisters of the Poor and some colleges and dioceses, who employ lay people, have to comply with the contraception mandate.The Obama administration crafted an indirect...

No group in the United States today is making a stronger stand for liberty than the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns dedicated to running nursing homes for the elderly poor. Every friend of freedom should rally to their cause. The federal government is now seeking to deny these sisters freedom of conscience. It has already taken its case against their liberty all the way through the U.S. Court of Appeal for the 10th Circuit. If the government succeeds, it means Catholic nuns in this country can no longer freely exercise their Catholic faith. They must...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed that its decision a day earlier extending religious rights to closely held corporations applies broadly to the contraceptive coverage requirement in the new health care law, not just the handful of methods the justices considered in their ruling. The justices did not comment in leaving in place lower court rulings in favor of businesses that object to covering all 20 methods of government-approved contraception....

I don’t mean to be (entirely) dismissive… But does Sandra Fluke actually still matter to anyone? I mean, you would think that even Democrats might eventually grow tired of listening to a 30-something year old college student whine about wanting free birth-control. But, I guess you would be wrong. Sandra is at it again, ahead of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Hobby Lobby case. Hobby Lobby has been fighting for the religious liberty of its owners before the Supreme Court. Today, SCOTUS is expected to release its ruling on the matter – determining whether or not the Obamacare contraception...

The EWTN Global Catholic Network has filed a motion for emergency relief with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking for an injunction to bar enforcement of the federal contraception mandate. Michael Warsaw, chairman and CEO of EWTN, explained that the network has already requested this protection with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, “but that court has yet to respond to our petition.” Without an injunction offering protection from the mandate, EWTN would be forced to comply with its demands starting July 1. As a result, the network filed its motion for emergency relief with the high court June 27. “We...

EWTN: Global Catholic Television Network (EWTN), a Catholic-themed television network founded in 1980 in a garage studio by a nun, has been denied protection from the HHS contraception mandate following a decision yesterday by Mobile, Ala. District Judge Callie V. Granade. A statement posted on EWTN's website and Facebook page by CEO Michael P. Warsaw expressed his disappointment with the decision and said that EWTN will seek an appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

A federal court has ruled that the Catholic Benefits Association and its hundreds of employer members are exempt from a federal mandate requiring coverage of contraceptives and abortifacient drugs. “We are grateful for the ruling, but continue to pray that our leaders recognize that Catholics, whether bishops or businessmen, cannot in good conscience provide insurance that covers drugs and procedures that undermine the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the benefit association’s vice-president, said June 5. “Religious freedom entails more than the right to worship and any contrary legislation...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up preliminary appeals brought by Roman Catholic groups that want an exemption from part of President Barack Obama's healthcare law requiring employers to provide insurance that covers contraception. The cases were brought by a series of Roman Catholic-affiliated nonprofit groups based in Washington, D.C., including Catholic University. The legal issue is different from one involving for-profit companies that also object on religious grounds to the so-called contraception mandate, which was argued before the high court last week. The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the two cases at this stage means...

This week, the Supreme Court will consider whether businesses and their owners must choose between paying millions of dollars in fines and violating their religious beliefs. The outcome of the combined cases, popularly styled Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, will shape how government interacts with religious Americans for decades to come. It is no overstatement to say that an adverse outcome would banish from public life many Americans who wish to go on operating their businesses in accordance with their religious beliefs, as they have for decades. But a funny thing happens if you pick up a newspaper covering these cases....

Question: Does the Obama administration claim the right to force Americans to cooperate in killing their own grandchildren? Answer: Yes. On the face of it, this seems like an outrageous claim. But it is true. The outrage is what the government is demanding Americans do. The Affordable Care Act -- aka Obamacare -- includes a "requirement to maintain minimum essential coverage." The main part of this "requirement" says: "An applicable individual shall for each month beginning after 2013 ensure that the individual, and any dependent of the individual who is an applicable individual, is covered under minimum essential coverage for...

Lawyer Paul Clement, representing the challengers, received little time to offer opening remarks on his position before the court jumped in with questions. Justice Sonia Sotomayor got things started with this: If corporations can object on religious grounds to providing contraception coverage, could they also object to vaccinations or blood transfusions?

The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the most prominent case yet pitting some Americans' religious rights against Obamacare's edicts Tuesday. Some say Obamacare is forcing business owners who believe abortion is a sin to pay for contraception that will terminate life in the womb. Others warn if the justices side with those business owners, it could lead to all sorts of business owners using religion to try to dodge all sorts of laws. Hobby Lobby's owners have lived out their religious beliefs through the store chain for decades, like keeping all Hobby Lobbys closed on Sundays. They company is...

It's fitting that the pro-abortion crowd dominating the Obama executive branch is not about to adopt a "live and let live" attitude toward its opponents in litigation concerning the government's effort to force corporations to subsidize the killing of human beings. The Affordable Care Act, an Orwellian title for a statute if there ever was one, requires employers to provide health care coverage for their employees that fully covers all forms of "contraception." Let's stop right there. Do you get the idea that the pro-abortion left is trying to force its ideology down our throats as much as it's trying...

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in a landmark religion-based legal challenge from family-owned companies that object to covering certain contraceptives in their health plans under ObamaCare. The case challenges the health care law's so-called "contraceptive mandate," which requires employers to offer health plans with a range of services at no extra charge, including all forms of birth control for women that have been approved by federal regulators. Some of the nearly 50 businesses that have sued over covering contraceptives object to paying for all forms of birth control. But the companies involved in the high court case are...

With many political debates, I try to give opponents the benefit of the doubt on intentions. Sure, raising taxes is a bad thing, but some politicians and pundits believe higher taxes will benefit society. Some people think we need to spend more, and others really fear climate change.When it comes to the HHS abortifacient/contraception/sterilization mandate, however, I’ve almost stopped being that generous with the left’s media and thought leaders. This New York Times Magazine editorial is a prime example as to why. Almost from start to finish, the piece misleads and misdirects readers about the mandate, its opponents, and religious...

Next week, probably the most egregious regulatory measure under this administration gets its time in the Supreme Court: The HHS abortifacient/contraception/sterilization mandate.As most people know, the mandate was initiated on January 20, 2012, and sparked an immediate backlash. Many people were bothered morally because of the anti-life components of the mandate, while organizations across the country were disturbed at how it failed to offer an appropriately broad religious exemption from the mandate.Despite several “compromises,”most of which were largely accounting gimmicks, there have been dozens of lawsuits by non-profit and for-profit organizations. According to the Alliance Defense Freedom (ADF), which represents...

The University of Notre Dame must provide birth control to employees and students after a federal appeals court ruled Friday, a move the school says will force it to violate its religious beliefs. In a blow to religious colleges and universities across the country, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago denied Notre Dame's request for an injunction to the ObamaCare birth control mandate that requires the school to provide coverage for contraception. The injunction would have given Notre Dame a temporary reprieve from the birth control mandate, as the Roman Catholic school challenges the rule in court....