Supreme Court: lower court's mandate decision lacking

WASHINGTON (BP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court appears to be indicating the White House and some judges still don't get it when it comes to protecting religious liberty.


The justices' latest act regarding the increasingly contentious issue of free exercise of religion came as a rebuke to an appellate ruling in support of rules implementing the administration's abortion/contraception mandate.
In a March 9 order, the high court vacated a ruling by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals against the University of Notre Dame and told it to reconsider its decision in light of the justices' ruling in support of the religious freedom of for-profit companies. The Seventh Circuit will re-examine its February 2014 ruling against the Roman Catholic school in view of the June win by Hobby Lobby and another business at the Supreme Court.

The abortion/contraception mandate, which was part of the implementation of the 2010 health-care law, requires employers to provide for their workers not only contraceptives but drugs and devices that can potentially cause abortions. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is on its eighth revision of rules in response to complaints it failed to protect the conscience rights of employers. None of those amendments has satisfied the concerns of religious liberty advocates.

The high court's latest action elicited approval from defenders of free exercise of religion.

http://www.bpnews.net/44379/supreme-court-lower-courts-mandate-decision-lacking