Kathianne
05-18-2013, 01:11 AM
http://womensenews.org/story/in-the-courts/130508/veteran-pro-bono-lawyers-fight-health-care-law
Veteran Pro Bono Lawyers Fight Health Care LawBy Sharon Johnson
WeNews senior correspondent
Thursday, May 9, 2013
With millions of dollars at stake for Hobby Lobby, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which brought the first challenge to the contraceptive mandate, will represent the Oklahoma City concern before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on May 23.
(WOMENSNEWS)--Veteran teams of anti-abortion pro bono lawyers are challenging the fines imposed by the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act in U.S. circuit courts of appeals because they claim the mandate places them in a Catch-22: pay the steep fines and adhere to their core religious beliefs or violate their faith and finance contraception.
On May 22, the Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit center based in Scottsdale, Ariz., is hoping that the 7th Court of Appeals in Chicago will issue an injunction so its client, Grote Industries, won't be subjected to fines for not providing the contraceptive coverage required by law since Jan. 1.
On May 23, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty will represent Hobby Lobby before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver in a similar suit.
Both centers are seeking injunctions because they believe that the cases are about religious liberty, and not employment or health care, which the government and opponents maintain.
These and other legal teams will be representing 30 or more for-profit companies this year and making religious liberty arguments about millions of dollars in fines. New suits are being filed each week.
"Nonprofit centers like ours that depend on donations are representing these small businesses pro bono because in addition to the fines, the cost of lawyers, travel and other expenses in pursuing these cases would wipe out the assets that took generations for the owners of these small businesses to accumulate," said Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel of the Alliance Defending Freedom, in a phone interview. His group has 44 in-house attorneys and more than 2,400 volunteer attorneys.
In cases where the owners are Evangelical Christians, the objection will be to covering emergency contraception but not preventive contraceptives, which the owners are willing to pay for; where owners are Catholic, the objection will be to covering all forms of contraception.
Arrayed against them, on the side of the government, will be the American Civil Liberties Reproductive Freedom Project, as well as the National Women's Law Center and other groups arguing that a business that enters the public sphere and operates a for-profit company can't impose religious beliefs on its employees.
Hefty Fines Under the Affordable Care Act, fines for businesses with more than 50 employees that don't cover all contraceptive methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration are $100 per day per employee.
Nineteen for-profit companies have been granted injunctions so that they don't have to pay for contraceptives while the cases are moving through the courts. Hobby Lobby and five others have been denied injunctions. Three for-profit companies have been denied temporary restraining orders. And the rest –the latest cases filed--have had no action because the courts are waiting to see what happens with the leading cases, such as Hobby Lobby and Grote.
At least two teams--the Becket Fund and the Alliance Defending Freedom--plan to cite the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 that prohibits the federal government from imposing a "substantial burden" on any religious practice without a "compelling state interest."
Three other powerhouse legal organizations have also jumped into the battle.
The Washington-based American Center for Law and Justice, which submitted briefs for Virginia, Florida and Michigan challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, has filed six lawsuits.
The Chicago-based Thomas More Society, whose clients have included Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, which has conducted a series of campaigns against Planned Parenthood, has also filed six suits.
The Law of Life Project of the Washington-based Jubilee Campaign, which recently filed a suit challenging an Austin, Texas's ordinance that requires anti-choice pregnancy centers to post signs that they do not provide abortion, has filed one suit, on behalf of Triune Health Group, named one of the best places to work for women in the Chicago area by Crane's Chicago.
The Washington-based Becket Fund filed the first challenge to the contraception mandate in November 2011 on behalf of Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic college in Belmont Abbey, N.C., seeking an exemption as a religious employer.
In 1988, Kevin J. "Seamus" Hasson, founder of the Becket Fund, successfully defended the right of the Catholic Church to maintain its tax exempt status while teaching and advocating its moral position on abortion.
Since 1994, when the Becket Fund was founded, the center has defended the Amish, Anglicans, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and non-denominational Christians in church-state cases. Early cases focused on the public expression of religion, such as displays of religious statues. Now the trend is toward religious liberty.
...
Veteran Pro Bono Lawyers Fight Health Care LawBy Sharon Johnson
WeNews senior correspondent
Thursday, May 9, 2013
With millions of dollars at stake for Hobby Lobby, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which brought the first challenge to the contraceptive mandate, will represent the Oklahoma City concern before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on May 23.
(WOMENSNEWS)--Veteran teams of anti-abortion pro bono lawyers are challenging the fines imposed by the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act in U.S. circuit courts of appeals because they claim the mandate places them in a Catch-22: pay the steep fines and adhere to their core religious beliefs or violate their faith and finance contraception.
On May 22, the Alliance Defending Freedom, a nonprofit center based in Scottsdale, Ariz., is hoping that the 7th Court of Appeals in Chicago will issue an injunction so its client, Grote Industries, won't be subjected to fines for not providing the contraceptive coverage required by law since Jan. 1.
On May 23, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty will represent Hobby Lobby before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver in a similar suit.
Both centers are seeking injunctions because they believe that the cases are about religious liberty, and not employment or health care, which the government and opponents maintain.
These and other legal teams will be representing 30 or more for-profit companies this year and making religious liberty arguments about millions of dollars in fines. New suits are being filed each week.
"Nonprofit centers like ours that depend on donations are representing these small businesses pro bono because in addition to the fines, the cost of lawyers, travel and other expenses in pursuing these cases would wipe out the assets that took generations for the owners of these small businesses to accumulate," said Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel of the Alliance Defending Freedom, in a phone interview. His group has 44 in-house attorneys and more than 2,400 volunteer attorneys.
In cases where the owners are Evangelical Christians, the objection will be to covering emergency contraception but not preventive contraceptives, which the owners are willing to pay for; where owners are Catholic, the objection will be to covering all forms of contraception.
Arrayed against them, on the side of the government, will be the American Civil Liberties Reproductive Freedom Project, as well as the National Women's Law Center and other groups arguing that a business that enters the public sphere and operates a for-profit company can't impose religious beliefs on its employees.
Hefty Fines Under the Affordable Care Act, fines for businesses with more than 50 employees that don't cover all contraceptive methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration are $100 per day per employee.
Nineteen for-profit companies have been granted injunctions so that they don't have to pay for contraceptives while the cases are moving through the courts. Hobby Lobby and five others have been denied injunctions. Three for-profit companies have been denied temporary restraining orders. And the rest –the latest cases filed--have had no action because the courts are waiting to see what happens with the leading cases, such as Hobby Lobby and Grote.
At least two teams--the Becket Fund and the Alliance Defending Freedom--plan to cite the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 that prohibits the federal government from imposing a "substantial burden" on any religious practice without a "compelling state interest."
Three other powerhouse legal organizations have also jumped into the battle.
The Washington-based American Center for Law and Justice, which submitted briefs for Virginia, Florida and Michigan challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, has filed six lawsuits.
The Chicago-based Thomas More Society, whose clients have included Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, which has conducted a series of campaigns against Planned Parenthood, has also filed six suits.
The Law of Life Project of the Washington-based Jubilee Campaign, which recently filed a suit challenging an Austin, Texas's ordinance that requires anti-choice pregnancy centers to post signs that they do not provide abortion, has filed one suit, on behalf of Triune Health Group, named one of the best places to work for women in the Chicago area by Crane's Chicago.
The Washington-based Becket Fund filed the first challenge to the contraception mandate in November 2011 on behalf of Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic college in Belmont Abbey, N.C., seeking an exemption as a religious employer.
In 1988, Kevin J. "Seamus" Hasson, founder of the Becket Fund, successfully defended the right of the Catholic Church to maintain its tax exempt status while teaching and advocating its moral position on abortion.
Since 1994, when the Becket Fund was founded, the center has defended the Amish, Anglicans, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and non-denominational Christians in church-state cases. Early cases focused on the public expression of religion, such as displays of religious statues. Now the trend is toward religious liberty.
...