Another court backs Catholic family-owned family challenging HHS mandate

November 02, 2012

For the 2nd time, a federal judge has ruled in favor of a Catholic-owned family business in a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate.

Judge Robert Cleland ruled that a Michigan firm, Weingartz Supply Company, should not be required to provide contraceptive coverage for his 170 employees. In July another federal court had granted similar relief to Colorado-based Hercules Industries.

The two decisions apply only to the companies directly involved in the lawsuits. But the courts’ decisions suggest that the contraceptive mandate may be vulnerable to a broader court challenge.

In each case the court ruled that the family firm should not be required to comply with the mandate until the legal challenge to the legislation is resolved. The courts found that the federal government has not shown a “compelling interest”--sufficient to override the religious-liberty interests of employers--for enforcing the mandate immediately.

 

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Further information:

• Judge backs Catholic firm over contraception mandate (Reuters)
• Federal judge backs Colorado firm's bid to block HHS contraceptive mandate (CWN, 7/27))