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Little Sisters: Cato Institute Targets the Affordable Care Act—Yet Again

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This article by Americans United's Senior Litigation Counsel Gregory M. Lipper originally appeared on Harvard Law's Bill of Health blog. 

Fresh of its unsuccessful attempt to gut the Affordable Care Act in King v. Burwell, the Cato Institute is back for more. This time, Cato has filed an amicus brief in support of Supreme Court review in Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged v. Burwell. This is one of the many, many (many) challenges brought under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) by nonprofit organizations to an accommodation, offered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), exempting religious nonprofits from providing contraceptive coverage to their employees. To take advantage of the accommodation, nonprofits need only provide written notice to the government of their objection and the name of their insurance provider or plan administrator. At that point, the government arranges for the nonprofit organization’s insurance company or plan administrator to provide the coverage at no cost to the nonprofit or its employees.

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Alabama Taxpayers May Have To Pay $200,000 In Legal Fees After Losing Marriage Equality Fight

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It's always the taxpayers who lose, isn't it? 

After a lawsuit over the recognition of a same-sex couple's marriage and the adoption of one partner's child, the two lawyers who successfully represented the couples are looking to the state for reimbursement.

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Even Justice Scalia Would Tell Kim Davis To #DoYourJob Or Find A New One

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Justice Antonin Scalia, as we all know, was very much against the Supreme Court's June decision on marriage equality. His scathing dissent was a veritable cornucopia of sarcasm, bewilderment and ire. But even he would agree that Religious Right poster girl Kim Davis should either do the job she is paid by the taxpayers to do or find another position that better fits her version of morality.

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Kim Davis Defied Highest Court In The Land, Now Only Answers to "God's Authority"

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When we started this post, the Supreme Court had just denied Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis' plea for a stay of the preliminary injunction requiring her to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. It was a cheerful post, a post rejoicing to see that justice system worked. The sun was shining, the Supreme Court stuck to its decision, and all was right with the world.

And then we saw this.

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Alliance Defending Freedom Hypocritical In March For Life Case

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A federal judge has ruled that existing accommodations from the ACA’s contraception coverage regulations unconstitutionally distinguishes between religious and nonreligious pro-life organizations.

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Ted Cruz Predicts That Anti-Christian Persecution Will Soon Be Arriving In A Town Near You

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Fresh off his rally for "religious freedom" in Iowa, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz warned an audience at the South Carolina "We Stand With God" rally that anti-Christian persecution, like the kind that terrorizes Christian businesses who refuse to serve same-sex couples, might be coming for their state.

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Kim Davis Watch 2015: Rowan County Clerk Asks Supreme Court For Relief Before Marriage License Ruling Goes Into Effect

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Just a day after the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied her motion for a stay of the preliminary injunction pending appeal, Kim Davis has reached out to the Supreme Court to issue the stay.

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Georgia State Senator Still Fuming Over Business Interference In His Anti-LGBT Bill

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If you haven't had a chance to read Mark Joseph Stern's wry article about Georgia Sen. Josh McKoon, then you are missing out on all the ways the esteemed lawmaker has been trying to justify the failure of a "religious liberty" bill that died last spring. 

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Texas Hilton Hotel Chef Allegedly Refused To Cater A Same-Sex Wedding

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A Hilton Hotel chef in the Dallas suburb of Richardson, Texas has allegedly refused to cater a same-sex wedding in the hotel. Daren Merchant and Rick O’Connor, a couple who has been together for over 24 years, approached the hotel to schedule ceremony and party.

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Deja Vu All Over Again: Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis Defies Court Order A Second Time

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Edited 8/27/2015, 2:50pm

Kim Davis is now planning to ask the Supreme Court to put the injunction on hold on Friday.

Kim Davis, embattled Rowan County clerk, received some bad news last night: the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied her motion for a stay of the preliminary injunction pending appeal. This means that Davis must begin issuing marriage licenses to both same-sex and different-sex couples, something that she has refused to do since the Supreme Court's marriage equality decision two months ago, despite a court order on August 12. 

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Kentucky County Clerk (No, Not That One) Would Rather Die Than Do His Job

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Not content with letting Kim Davis be the only Kentucky county clerk publicly humiliating herself with outdated opinions, Casey Davis (no relation) of Casey County took to the airwaves on "The Tom Roten Morning Show”.

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Catholic Hospital Retracts Contraceptive Refusal Decision After ACLU Delivers Smackdown

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Rachel Miller and her husband had made up their minds: with one small child at home and another on the way, they decided that their soon-to-be family of four didn't need any further additions. So when scheduling her C-section with her doctor at Mercy Medical Center in California, Rachel asked that her doctor perform a post-partum tubal ligation as a contraceptive measure. The doctor agreed. That should have been the end of the discussion. Unfortunately, Mercy Medical Center had other ideas.

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Martyr Movie: Ted Cruz’s Claims About ‘Religious Freedom’ Persecution Were Debunked Long Ago

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With Donald Trump getting all the attention in the race for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, other candidates are getting increasingly desperate to stay relevant. Enter U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a Tea Party darling who is putting in an all-out effort to court evangelical voters.

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ICYMI: Los Angeles Times Supports OLC Memo Review

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Last week, 130 national organizations, including Americans United, sent a letter to President Obama asking him review and withdraw the OLC Memo and the "troubling policy [which] allows faith-based organizations to take government funds to perform social services for the public and ignore laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of religion" contained therein.

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‘Just Go Somewhere Else!’: A Cavalier Dismissal Of A Serious Concern

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If the rights of individuals are being violated, if people are the victims of unfair treatment, if they are made to accept lesser status in a society that strives for equality, if they are being told, in effect, “Get out, I do not serve your kind here,” then decent people have a right – indeed, a duty – to rectify that by all legal means, including litigation.

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Wyoming Judge Under Investigation For Stating That She Would Not Marry Same-Sex Couples

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Pinedale municipal judge and circuit court magistrate Ruth Neely is under investigation after being quoted in a newspaper story in October 2014 saying that she would not marry same-sex couples. This comment came less than three months after U.S. District Judge Scott W. Skavdahl of Casper struck down the state's ban on marriage for Wyoming LGBT residents.

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Down With Discrimination: Broad Coalition Of 130 Organizations Asks President Obama To End Taxpayer-Funded Discrimination

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Down With Discrimination: Broad Coalition Of 130 Organizations Asks President Obama To End Taxpayer-Funded Discrimination

President Barack Obama’s White House website stresses that he is a civil rights president who is “leading the fight to protect everyone – no matter who you are, where you’re from, what you look like, or who you love.” Yet, the president continues to enforce a policy that allows taxpayer-funded religious discrimination. This troubling policy allows faith-based organizations to take government funds to perform social services for the public and ignore laws that prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of religion.

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Texas County Clerk's Refusal To Issue Marriage Licenses To Same-Sex Couple Costs County Almost $44K

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Wherein the actions of one public official cost the taxpayers big time.