Richard A. Sokerka
As Holy Week began, there was a major court decision that proved to be an important victory for our religious freedoms.
The decision by the U.S. District Court dealt a final, crushing blow to Obamacare’s Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate, which had forced Catholic non-profits to provide coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization in their health care packages to their employees.
District Court Judge David Russell issued a permanent injunction stopping the federal government from enforcing the mandate against the Catholic Benefits Association (CBA). He also issued a declaratory judgment; holding that the mandate was not only illegal; but also it violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
In this major victory for the First Amendment right to religious freedom, which has been largely ignored by the secular press, Judge Russell also issued declaratory relief and a permanent injunction against the Obamacare mandate. The ruling also eliminates $6.9 billion in government fines that have accumulated against CBA members.
The judgment means that the government cannot force Catholic employers who are members of the CBA to provide the mandate coverage. While an injunction stops the federal government from enforcing the mandate against CBA members, the declaratory judgment speaks directly to the illegality of what the federal government under the Obama Administration had been trying to do to CBA members for years. The court stated that the federal government “violated RFRA (Religious Freedom Restoration Act).”
Four years ago, the CBA challenged the Obamacare mandate in the district court claiming that it was in direct conflict with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Two federal lawsuits were filed in 2014 by the Catholic Benefits Association (CBA), a membership association that represents more than 1,000 Catholic employers. The goal was to protect Catholic employers from federal government mandates that sought to force Catholic employers to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs — a goal that was achieved with this ruling.
Judge Russell ruled that his decision is permanent. The court’s injunction binds not only the current administration, which did not support the mandate, but also future administrations, protecting CBA members from any other regulation in the future that tries to use the “women’s preventive services mandate” to force CBA members to violate their conscience.
The decision rightly follows that the first freedom in the Bill of Rights is the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
This court’s decision is not only a monumental victory for religious liberty, but also a staggering blow to the abortion industry and all who support it.