Obamacare contraceptive mandate dealt a blow by appeals court
An appeals court ruling appears have struck a blow to the contraceptive mandate from Obamacare when the court ruled that it infringed on religious freedom.
The ruling Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is one of many on the birth control issue, which likely will be resolved by the Supreme Court.
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Photo/Florida Tenth Amendment Center
The appeals court panel says the mandate limits the right of free exercise of religion, “trammels the right of free exercise,” Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote for a divided three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Francis A. Gilardi Jr. and Philip M. Gilardi, brothers from Sidney, Ohio, sued because they should not have to provide contraception coverage to employees of the companies they own if it goes against their Catholic faith, the court ruled.
However, those companies themselves, Freshway Foods and Freshway Logistics, do not have the right to challenge the mandate on religious grounds, the court said.
As a result, the ruling was only a “partial victory” for mandate opponents, according to a statement from the American Center for Law and Justice, which represented the Gilardis. The organization said it planned to ask the Supreme Court to settle the question.
“While this is a victory for the individual plaintiffs,” said Francis J. Manion, who argued the case, “the appeals court rejected a critical argument that the rights of the companies be protected as well.”
Judge Harry T. Edwards wrote a dissent to the main part of the ruling, calling the Gilardis’ claim that a requirement on their companies imposed a burden on their freedom of religion “specious.”
Judge Edwards continued, “It has been well understood since the founding of our nation that legislative restrictions may trump religious exercise.”
