College Appeals to U.S. Supreme Court in Effort Against HHS Mandate

Attorneys representing Thomas Aquinas College and its co-plaintiffs have submitted a petition for a writ of certiorari (PDF) to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking relief from the HHS Mandate that threatens the religious liberty of Catholic institutions across the United States.

As part of the June 25, 2015, filing, attorneys from the Jones Day law firm asked the Court to resolve several conflicting lower court rulings about whether Catholic employers should be exempt from federal requirements that compel them to facilitate free contraceptive, abortifacient, and sterilization coverage for their employees. The petition argues that the HHS Mandate, as it is commonly called, “has made it effectively impossible for Petitioners to offer health coverage to their employees and students in a manner consistent with their religious beliefs.”

Appealing to the nation’s highest court is the latest step in a legal effort that began nearly two years ago. The College originally filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on September 20, 2013, and prevailed, receiving a permanent injunction from the HHS mandate. The U.S. Government, however, appealed that decision, and on November 14, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia granted the Government’s appeal, removing the injunction. At that time, the College filed a motion (PDF) for an en banc hearing of the case. Last month a majority of the court denied the motion (PDF). The College quickly requested and received an emergency stay in the matter, which effectively shields it from the mandate until the Supreme Court rules on the merits of the case.

At issue, the petition for the writ of certiorari contends, is whether “the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) allows the Government to force objecting religious nonprofit organizations to violate their beliefs by offering health plans with ‘seamless’ access to coverage for contraceptives, abortifacients, and sterilization.” The Supreme Court should hear the case, the petition continues, “because it affects the rights of untold thousands of nonprofit religious groups under federal law. Aside from the instant case, there are at least 40 cases pending in the lower courts challenging the Nonprofit Mandate, and courts have granted injunctions in 29 of those cases.”

The Court is not expected to act on the petition until it returns from its summer recess in the fall. Until then, the stay that temporarily exempts the College from the Mandate will remain in place.

“We are grateful to our co-plaintiffs in this case —The Catholic University of America, the Archdiocese of Washington, and Priests for Life — as well as to our attorneys at Jones Day,” says Thomas Aquinas College President Michael F. McLean. “We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will agree to hear our case and that, when it does, the justices will preserve the country’s historic commitment to religious liberty.”