Bailey comment: " This is our federal government out of control ".
The Obama administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court not to
exempt Catholic groups from an ObamaCare requirement to offer
contraceptive coverage, after the high court gave them a temporary
reprieve earlier this week.
The court filing comes in response to a surprise order -- issued
shortly before coverage under the law went into effect -- by Supreme
Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The justice issued a stay late Tuesday
preventing the government from enforcing the so-called contraceptive
mandate against the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged.
The group of Catholic nuns argues that the contraceptive coverage
requirement violates their religious beliefs. To get around the mandate,
they claim they'd have to sign a "permission slip" authorizing others
to provide contraceptives and "abortion drugs" -- or pay a fine.
Lawyers for the group made one more plea for emergency relief late
Friday, filing a 17-page brief with the court saying the reprieve spared
the nuns from having to choose between violating their faith and facing
IRS penalties. The brief claimed the government is "simply blind to the
religious exercise at issue: the Little Sisters and other Applicants
cannot execute the form because they cannot deputize a third party to
sin on their behalf."
But the Justice Department, responding just before the Friday morning
deadline, reiterated its argument that the group has no foundation for
its case. The administration says religious nonprofit groups such of
this one can certify that they don't want to provide contraceptive
coverage. In that case, it would be up to a third-party administrator to
decide whether to provide it.
The DOJ filing noted that the administrator in this case "says it will not provide contraceptive coverage."
"Applicants have no legal basis to challenge the self certification
requirement or to complain that it involves them in the process of
providing contraceptive coverage," the administration claimed.
The Catholic group, though, has argued that even signing the certification form would violate the nuns' beliefs.
A lawyer with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is
representing the group, blasted the administration over the filing.
"The government demands that the Little Sisters of the Poor sign a
permission slip for abortion drugs and contraceptives, or pay of
millions in fines. The Sisters believe that doing that violates their
faith, and that they shouldn't be forced to divert funds from the poor
elderly and dying people they've devoted their lives to serve," senior
counsel Mark Rienzi said in a statement.
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.
It is not known when Sotomayor will make a decision.
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