Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito gives Pittsburgh, Erie dioceses birth control opt-out win

April 17, 2015 11:30 PM
By Peter Smith / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

After a federal appeals court refused their request, the Roman Catholic dioceses of Pittsburgh and Erie immediately went to the U.S. Supreme Court and just as swiftly got the answer they sought.

Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday delayed federal enforcement of a mandate — which had been formalized just hours earlier by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals — that would have made contraceptives available to workers at the dioceses’ charitable agencies under their insurance plans.

The decision by Justice Alito, who hears such petitions from the Third Circuit, maintains the status quo but also signals the growing likelihood of what some are calling “Hobby Lobby II” — a Supreme Court showdown on whether religious non-profits have to comply with the mandate under the Affordable Care Act.

In a similar case last year, headlined by the Hobby Lobby corporation, the Supreme Court found that closely held corporations with religious objections to aspects of the contraception mandate were exempt from it.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2015/04/17/Justice-halts-religious-groups-birth-control-opt-out-role-alito-pittsburgh-erie-diocese/stories/201504170273