The Supreme Court Says the Obama Administration Can’t Make Notre Dame Obey the Pro-Abortion HHS Mandate

Obama’s HHS mandate caused a furor among proponents of religious freedom, as it forced many religious organizations to choose between breaking the law and violating their religious conscience by providing abortifacients to their employees. Notre Dame, one of the country’s most famous Catholic universities, just won an important battle in this war for religious freedom when the Supreme Court ruled in their favor.

Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Hobby Lobby In ACA Contraception Case

After a lower court dismissed the lawsuit, today the Supreme Court ordered the lower court to reconsider its ruling that denied a Catholic university the freedom to follow its faith.

Previously, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Miller Jr. dismissed the suit, claiming that Notre Dame is sufficiently protected by a very narrowly-drawn religious exemption in the mandate — that pro-life legal groups say does not apply to every religious entity. Then, a three-judge panel from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision on a 2-1 vote.

In appealing that decision, the University of Notre Dame brought its request to the Supreme Court — saying the lower court decision made it the only nonprofit religious ministry in the nation without protection from the HHS mandate. The Supreme Court’s ruling today vacates the entire lower court decision forcing Notre Dame to comply and the 7th Circuit must now review its decision taking into consideration the entire Hobby Lobby case upholding that company’s right to not be forced into compliance.

Most of the religious organizations protesting this mandate don’t want to make birth control illegal — they simply don’t want to be forced to violate their religious beliefs by having to pay for it themselves. This isn’t an issue of taking birth control away from women, and it’s dishonest of liberals to phrase the debate this way; this is an issue of religious freedom, plain and simple, and today at least, freedom won.

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