The devout Roman Catholic brothers Francis and Philip M. Gilardi, owners of Freshway Foods and Freshway Logistics of Sidney, Ohio, sued the federal government to stop the onerous ObamaCare penalties imposed on them for their religious opposition to paying for abortifacients, contraceptives and sterilizations. Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in their favor, an action likely to cause this case, and those similar, to be decided by the Supreme Court.
For background, read Bishops Say Catholic Church Will Defy ObamaCare and also read Christians Defeating ObamaCare, Obama's DOJ Surrenders as well as Federal Judge Rules Against ObamaCare, For Catholics
The battle: Report Says Not Enough Abortions - ObamaCare the Answer and so ObamaCare Covers Abortion & Pays Abortionists
In addition, read Morning-After Abortifacient is Becoming the 'Contraceptive' Choice
-- From "Obamacare Birth Control Coverage Mandate Ruled Unconstitutional" by Karen Gullo, Bloomberg News 11/2/13
A provision of President Barack Obama’s health-care reforms requiring group insurance plans to cover contraceptives violates the constitutional right to religious freedom, a federal appeals court in Washington said.
“We must determine whether the contraceptive mandate imposed by the act trammels the right of free exercise -— a right that lies at the core of our constitutional liberties -— as protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” wrote Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown. “We conclude it does.”
The case is Gilardi v. Department of Health and Human Services, 13-104, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (Washington).
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From "Court Rules Contraception Mandate Infringes on Religious Freedom" by Sarah Wheaton, New York Times 11/1/13
The ruling was largely in line with most others around the country so far. Of nearly 40 challenges, only a handful of courts have upheld the government’s requirement that employer health plans provide free birth control, emergency contraception and sterilization.
Francis A. Gilardi Jr. and Philip M. Gilardi, brothers from Sidney, Ohio, should not have to provide contraception coverage to employees of the companies they own if it goes against their Catholic faith, the court ruled. However, those companies themselves, Freshway Foods and Freshway Logistics, do not have the right to challenge the mandate on religious grounds, the court said.
“While this is a victory for the individual plaintiffs,” said Francis J. Manion, [of the American Center for Law and Justice] who argued the case, “the appeals court rejected a critical argument that the rights of the companies be protected as well.”
However, the question of companies’ rights is just a “procedural technicality,” said Eric Baxter, a senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has represented other high-profile challengers to the ban, including the craft store chain Hobby Lobby. The Supreme Court is expected to decide before Thanksgiving whether to review that or other cases about the mandate, Mr. Baxter said.
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From "D.C. Appellate Court Rules Against Contraceptive Mandate in Affordable Care Act" by Dottie Perry, The Legal Examiner 11/1/13
A divided Federal court in the District of Columbia sided with more business owners who brought suit to challenge the Affordable Care Act (“ObamaCare”) birth control mandate today. The court’s order expressly provided “a temporary reprieve from the mandate.” The plaintiff business owners complained that the mandate violated their beliefs as Roman Catholics.
This D.C. Court of Appeals ruling is in line with at least nine other courts that have ruled against the contraceptive coverage mandate.
Dozens of additional suits have been, and continue to be, filed throughout the country. Most notably, Hobby Lobby, a craft store, has also filed suit over various ObamaCare mandates such as the contraceptive coverage requirement. Hobby Lobby sought and has been granted an expedited en banc hearing on the issue. Ultimately, this mandate will likely end up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court for final resolution.
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From "Appeals court deals blow to ObamaCare contraceptive mandate" by The Associated Press 11/2/13
[Judge Janice Rogers] Brown, an appointee of President George W. Bush, said that the mandate presented the Gilardis with a "Hobson's choice: They can either abide by the sacred tenets of their faith, pay a penalty of over $14 million, and cripple the companies they have spent a lifetime building, or they become complicit in a grave moral wrong."
But Brown upheld the lower court's dismissal of an injunction for the brothers' companies, writing, "we have no basis for concluding a secular organization can exercise religion."
. . . Judge A. Raymond Randolph joined Brown's main conclusion about the Gilardis but dissented from her conclusions about Freshway companies' exercise of religion.
"Why limit the free-exercise right to religious organizations when many business corporations adhere to religious dogma?" asked Randolph, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush. "If non-religious organizations do not have free-exercise rights, why do non-religious natural persons (atheists, for example) possess them?"
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From "Appeals Court Rules for the Gilardis but Leaves Key Questions Unresolved" by Francis J. Manion, American Center for Law and Justice 11/1/13
In [Friday's] decision, a majority of the Court agreed with our argument that the HHS Mandate places a substantial burden on the free exercise of religion of the Gilardis in trying to run their business in accordance with their religious beliefs. But the Court declined to go further and also hold that the Gilardis’ companies, as such, also have free exercise claims that they can assert in court.
We are obviously pleased with the Court’s recognition that the Mandate burdens the Gilardis’ beliefs. At the same time, we believe we need to ask the Supreme Court to decide the question left unanswered so that there will be no ambiguity about the protection afforded by this decision. Therefore, we intend to file a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court next week.
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Click headlines below to read previous articles:
President Obama Redefines 1st Amendment Freedom of Religion using ObamaCare
President Obama Says His Daughters Need ObamaCare's Free Contraceptives
President Obama Prays to an Unknown God
President Obama Asks God to Bless Planned Parenthood
