[World Mag] A historic order of nuns who minister to the elderly poor gained a reprieve from the Supreme Court Wednesday. A majority of justices upheld a Trump administration rule exempting employers with religious and moral objections from providing contraception in group healthcare plans. But the ruling may not bring an immediate end to the seven-year legal battle by the Little Sisters of the Poor.
In a 7-2 decision, the majority held that in 2017 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created the exemption in a way that squared with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the exemption was not procedurally defective. "For over 150 years, the Little Sisters have engaged in faithful service and sacrifice, motivated by a religious calling to surrender all for the sake of their brother," wrote Justice Clarence Thomas. "We hold today that the Departments had the statutory authority to craft that exemption."
It’s a significant victory for faith-based employers. But it may not end legal challenges from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other states, says Kim Colby, director of the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom. Colby points to a separate concurring opinion by Justice Elena Kagan, joined by Justice Stephen Breyer, which she says lays out a "roadmap" for states to continue challenges to the HHS rule for being arbitrary and capricious.