Before U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
presided over the Times Square ball drop on New Year's Eve, she temporarily
blocked Obamacare's contraceptive mandate from being enforced on two religious non-profits.
The Colorado- and Maryland-based Little Sisters of the Poor and Illinois-based Christian Brothers Services were granted a temporary injunction, preventing Obamacare's contraceptive mandate (which would have gone into effect on New Year's Day) from applying to these non-profits, reports Reuters.
What does Justice Sotomayor's order mean for Obamacare's enforcement?
Non-Profits Need to Be 'Self-Certified'
Under Obamacare, bona fide religious organizations are exempt from the contraceptive requirement, but non-profits which are
affiliated with a religious organization are a bit of a grayer area.
To sort out some of the confusion, the federal government agreed in June to allow non-profits to "self-certify" that they were exempt from the contraceptive mandate for religious reasons. This was accomplished by
filling out a government-issued form and providing it to the non-profit's insurer or health insurance plan administrator.
The Little Sisters of the Poor is a non-profit comprised of nuns; Christian Brother Services administers the Little Sisters' employee health benefits.
In their
application to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Little Sisters' lawyers argued that this self-certification process, requiring them to send the government-issued form to Christian Brother Services, violates the members' religious beliefs.
The question looming before the Supreme Court is whether the self-certification system itself is a substantial burden to religious liberty.
