The U.S. Supreme Court's action this week in the Little Sisters of the Poor case, Zubik v. Burwell, and six other related cases has temporarily relieved the burden on religious charities’ core beliefs. These religious charities had faced extreme fines for refusing to provide insurance coverage for contraceptive drugs that violate their religious beliefs.
The Supreme Court vacated seven lower court decisions that had ruled against the religious charities, and has sent the case down to the lower federal courts for the parties to “work out” their differences. In so doing, the Supreme Court vindicated the religious charities’ claim that the government had substantially burdened their religious beliefs.
In the supplemental briefing that the Court ordered in April the US government acknowledged that it had less restrictive means for accomplishing its interest other than forcing the religious charities to abandon their core religious beliefs. The Christian Legal Society (CLS) filed an amicus brief supporting the religious charities, which urged the Court to protect all Americans' religious liberty by fully enforcing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). The brief CLS filed in Zubik v. Burwell can be found here.
Religious liberty is essential to family restoration.
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