From jsonline: A Supreme Court justice has blocked implementation of portions of
President Barack Obama's health care law that would have forced some
religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for
employees that includes birth control.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor's decision came Tuesday night after a
different effort by Catholic-affiliated groups from around the nation.
Those groups rushed to the federal courts to stop Wednesday's start of
portions of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Sotomayor acted on a request from an order of Catholic nuns in
Colorado, whose request for a stay had been denied by the lower courts.
Sotomayor is giving the government until Friday morning to respond to her decision.
Catholic organizations made a last-minute effort Tuesday to get the
Supreme Court to block portions of President Barack Obama's health care
law that will force them to provide health insurance for students and
employees that includes birth control.
Several organizations, including the Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Washington, the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, Catholic University and
the Michigan Catholic Conference, asked justices to block the law until
their arguments are heard. Parts of the Affordable Care Act go into
effect on Wednesday.
On that day, "a regulatory mandate will expose numerous Catholic
organizations to draconian fines unless they abandon their religious
convictions and take actions that facilitate access to abortion-inducing
drugs, contraceptives and sterilization for their employees and
students," lawyer Noel J. Francisco said in appeals to Chief Justice
John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan. http://www.jsonline.com/news/usandworld/justice-sonia-sotomayor-blocks-part-of-health-care-law-b99175458z1-238325501.html
Gee, I wonder why Sotomayor waited until late New Years Eve to sign this? Maybe to avoid giving Obama a total embarrassing moment?
But it is good news for conservatives that a radical liberal on the Supreme Court has sided with conservatives on this issue, at least for now.
Merry Christmas!
13 hours ago
Everybody, conservative or liberal, should be against this exemption. Because it sets up a FRIGHTENING precedent if it prevails. Any religion (Christianity is far from the only religion) could claim legal exemptions to this or other laws for countless, sometimes likely wacky reasons. Anybody can declare themselves to be a priest in their own made-up religion. This is a Pandora's Box, and it is only the tendency for people to only consider their OWN religion as "real" that keeps people from seeing it.
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