On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will start hearing oral arguments on the Zubik v. Burwell case regarding the Obamacare contraception mandate. The most well-known plaintiff in the case is the Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious nonprofit that provides homes for the elderly in need. With the organization in the spotlight, here are five things you need to know about them.
1. The Obama administration is fighting nuns. According to the organization’s mission statement, the Little Sisters of the Poor are “an international congregation of Roman Catholic religious women founded in 1839 by Saint Jeanne Jugan.” In other words, they’re nuns who provide charity to the elderly poor in over 30 countries. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) makes the following point on Twitter:
If you’re litigating against nuns, you have probably done something wrong, and the Obama Admin is doing so right now: https://t.co/uwxkoHXQ6c
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) July 16, 2014
Especially since, as Carl Bergquist, the “mayor” of the Washington, D.C. Sister’s home, tells USA Today, “There’s not much sex going on here.”
2. Religious freedom is at stake in this Supreme Court decision. National Review‘s David French explains that the mandate in question stems from a Department of Health and Human Services’s regulation compelling religious employers such as the Little Sisters of the Poor to fill out a form that states their “religious objection, but also of the ‘name and type’ of its plan and ‘the name and contact information for any of the plan’s third party administrators and health insurance issuers.'” HHS then forces the employers’ insurer to provide free coverage for contraception. Despite this supposed exemption, the Little Sisters of the Poor would still be mandated to violate their religious beliefs:
HHS still requires the Sisters to participate in the process of providing contraceptives even if that process does not include payment. They’re required to facilitate the provision of abortifacients and other contraceptives by providing the government with ongoing access to updated insurance information. Other religious employers, such as churches, don’t have to participate in the process at all. They don’t file forms. They don’t notify the government. They simply provide health plans in accordance with their religious beliefs.
The Little Sisters of the Poor argue that the contraception mandate is in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a federal statute stating that a law straining freedom of religion can only legally be enforced if there is a “compelling government interest” to do so in the “least restrictive means” possible. Their religious beliefs are clearly being violated in this instance, and the government cannot have a compelling interest to force religious employers to provide free contraception when they already have exempted numerous organizations and employees can obtain free contraception by enrolling in the Obamacare exchanges, the Sisters argue.
There is no question then that the mandate violates religious freedom and the Supreme Court would be ruling against religious liberty if they side with the Obama administration.
“If a group of Catholic nuns can be dragooned into facilitating the sexual revolution because bureaucratic rulemaking trumps essential civil liberties, then religious freedom as a distinct American freedom is nearly extinguished,” writes French.
3. The Little Sisters of the Poor would be subject to enormous fines if they lose this case and don’t violate their conscience. $70 million a year, to be exact.
4. Justice Antonin Scalia’s death looms large over this case. Scalia, himself “a devout Catholic and a hero to the Little Sisters of the Poor” according to USA Today, likely would have been the fifth vote to side with the Sisters. Instead, there’s a good chance that the court will be deadlocked at a 4-4 vote, meaning they would defer to the lower court’s ruling against the Sisters. However, the Sisters could re-litigate the case when Scalia’s vacancy becomes filled.
5. The public is on the Little Sisters of the Poor’s side. A December 2013 Rasmussen poll determined that 51 percent of Americans don’t agree with the contraception mandate, and that number increased to 59 percent in another recent poll.