If you enjoy dry subtle humor, what the Supreme Court did yesterday with regard to the Little Sisters of the Poor is hilarious. The Court did NOT – as many commentators have misunderstood – “hand a victory” to the Little Sisters. The Affordable Care Act unequivocally and without limitation gives an absolute exemption to religious organizations (which includes churches) on the requirement that employers must provide coverage for contraceptive services in employer-provided health insurance policies. A second group of employers includes non-profit organizations which hold themselves out to the public as a religious organization, even though their primary mission is to do something other than preaching. This includes hospitals and day care centers and meals-on-wheels and nursing homes and other non-profit groups which are owned or operated by or affiliated with churches. Employers in this group can also be exempt by merely completing and signing a one-page form known as a Form 700 Certification. The Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of nuns in Colorado, fall under this heading because they own and operate the Mullen Center for the Aged. The third group of employers consists of all the ones who do not fit in the first two groups, including Hobby Lobby which has filed a lawsuit which is headed to the Supreme Court later. The Little Sisters employee young women at the Mullen Center who are not of the Catholic faith and who presumably would like for their insurance policy to cover birth control pills. And although I haven’t seen this position advanced, I would add, “Especially since the insurance policy covers Viagra for male co-workers.” To be exempt from having to include contraceptive services in their employees’ insurance policy, all the Little Sisters have to do is complete and sign the Form 700 Certification; then, the GOVERNMENT will pay for the coverage to be included in the policy, so the nuns don’t have to violate their conscience. So the entire rub is, the Little Sisters don’t want to sign the form, because they claim it is a “permission slip” giving the government permission to kill babies. The case is currently on appeal in the circuit court of appeals. In the meantime, Justice Sotomayor had issued a very temporary ruling saying the Little Sisters did not have to sign the Form 700 until further notice from the full Court. Yesterday, the FULL Supreme Court issued a ruling which extended Justice Sotomayor’s temporary order until a final decision can be rendered by the appeals court. Courts do this all the time…they issue orders keeping a party from having to do something until the case is fully and finally decided. In their order, the full court said that the Little Sisters do NOT have to sign the Form 700. “VICTORY for the nuns!” Instead, said the Court, all the nuns have to do is provide a statement to the government, “in writing that they are non-profit organizations that hold themselves out as religious and have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services.” So what is the terrible, awful language in the mean ole Form 700 that the government had wanted the Little Sisters to sign? “I certify that, on account of religious objections, the organization opposes providing coverage for some or all of any contraceptive services that would otherwise be required to be covered; the organization is organized and operates as a nonprofit entity; and the organization holds itself out as a religious organization.” In other words, dear Little Sisters, of course you don’t have to sign that mean ole nasty Form 700. You just sign a statement saying the exact same things that are in the Form 700, except the words “Form 700 Certification will not appear at the top of the page.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 15:39:56 +0000
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