Win for Religious Liberty

Richard A. Sokerka

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a lower court to reconsider its ruling that denied a Catholic university the freedom to follow its faith — a decision that is a victory for religious liberty in our nation.

That university was Notre Dame, which had brought its request to the Supreme Court after a lower court decision that made it the only nonprofit religious ministry in the nation without protection from the HHS mandate.

The Obama administration had relied on that decision in courts nationwide, arguing that it should also be applicable on religious ministries like the Little Sisters of the Poor.

But the Supreme Court vacated the Notre Dame decision entirely, and sent the case back to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider.

“This is a major blow to the federal government’s contraception mandate. The Notre Dame decision has been the centerpiece of the government’s effort to force religious ministries to violate their beliefs or pay fines to the IRS,” said Mark Rienzi, senior counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which filed an amicus brief in the case. “This is a strong signal that the Supreme Court will ultimately reject the government’s narrow view of religious liberty.”

Notre Dame’s fight to stay true to its stated religious beliefs has struck a victory for religious freedom that all people of faith can rejoice in.