Washington D.C., Jul 8, 2020 / 07:42 am
The Little Sisters of the Poor had a victory at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, nine years into the religious order's bouts of litigation over the Obama-era "contraception mandate" which obliged employers to provide for contraceptive coverage for employees through their health care plans.
"For over 150 years, the Little Sisters have engaged in faithful service and sacrifice, motivated by a religious calling to surrender all for the sake of their brother," wrote Justice Clarence Thomas for the majority.
"But for the past seven years, they-like many other religious objectors who have participated in the litigation and rulemakings leading up to today's decision- have had to fight for the ability to continue in their noble work without violating their sincerely held religious beliefs."
In a 7-2 decision, the Court's majority sided with the sisters in the latest round of lawsuits against them over the mandate, this time brought by the states of Pennsylvania and California, who argued that the exemption crafted by the Trump administration for organizations with religious or moral objections to the mandate shifted the cost of providing contraceptive coverage to the states and was procedurally flawed.