The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the Little Sisters of the Poor are exempt from an Obama-era mandate to provide contraception in their healthcare plans, an outcome regarded as a major victory by religious liberty advocates.
The case, Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania, marked the Catholic religious order’s second time before the Supreme Court, after nearly 10 years of legal dispute. It arose when the New Jersey and Pennsylvania state governments sued the Trump administration for exempting the Little Sisters from the contraception mandate.
In a 7-2 decision with the majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court held that the administration’s exemptions were issued with the proper “statutory authority” and that their implementation was “free from procedural defects.” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote a dissenting opinion, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, arguing the opposite.
The exemption, issued in the form of a 2017 executive order from President Trump, stated that the Little Sisters are protected from “undue interference from the federal government.” Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar recommitted to that position the following year with guidelines exempting religious non-profits from contraception requirements outlined in the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
The Little Sisters expressed their gratitude to the court for the outcome of the case for protecting their “right to serve the elderly without violating our faith.”
“Our life’s work and great joy is serving the elderly poor and we are so grateful that the contraceptive mandate will no longer steal our attention from our calling,” said Mother Loraine Marie Maguire, the order’s leader in the United States.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which defended the group before the court twice, also celebrated the victory, with president Mark Rienzi saying that the court did “the right thing.”
When the case was argued in early May, Pennsylvania Chief Deputy Attorney General Michael Fischer said the state believes that the Trump administration’s intervention and the HHS exemptions are “too broad” and will result in women losing coverage for services which the Affordable Care Act deemed as essential healthcare.
Former Solicitor General Paul Clement, who defended the Little Sisters, said during arguments that even if the case were to be decided against them, they will still not offer contraception in healthcare plans because the practice is “inconsistent with their faith.”
“There is nothing they can do to allow them to come into compliance with the mandate,” he said.
Thomas in his majority opinion remarked on that position, noting how throughout the past seven years of litigation, the religious order has “have had to fight for the ability to continue in their noble work without violating their sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Thomas also pointed to past cases involving the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate, writing that litigation disputing its scope has existed nearly as long as the mandate itself. he drew heavily on the landmark religious freedom case Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. in which the court decided, on the basis of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, that closely held corporations were exempted from the mandate if it interfered with the owners’ “sincerely held” beliefs.
Although RFRA was not directly in play in the Little Sisters case, Thomas said that the Trump administration was right to look to the federal law in crafting its exemptions. If it had not, Thomas wrote, it “would certainly be susceptible to claims that the rules were arbitrary and capricious for failing to consider an important aspect of the problem.”
The outcome of the case gives Trump a boost, especially after a series of losses for the administration’s agenda at the court.
When speaking to religious audiences, Trump frequently references his executive order on the Little Sisters as one of his victories for religious freedom. Trump has also noted how the original case brought against them occurred during former Vice President Joe Biden’s tenure in the White House.
After the decision was handed down, the Trump administration claimed it as a victory against the legacy of former President Barack Obama.
“This administration will continue working to protect healthcare, including contraceptive healthcare, for the American people,” press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement. “Unlike the last administration, however, we have the courage of our convictions: We are allowing women who lack access to contraceptive coverage because of their employer’s religious beliefs or moral convictions to more easily access such care through the Title X program at little to no cost.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a statement, said that the Supreme Court ruled to “enable the Trump administration’s brutal assault on women’s health, financial security, and independence.”
