By Marcia Coyle , From Legal Times

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear religious nonprofit organizations’ claims to an outright exemption from providing their female employees with contraceptive health insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act.

The high court will consider seven challenges—consolidated for review—by religious nonprofit organizations to the way the government accommodates their objections to contraceptive health insurance under the federal health care law.

The high court’s action marks the fourth time in three years that the nation’s controversial health insurance law has come under the justices’ microscope.

The seven petitions challenge four separate decisions by four different federal appellate courts that upheld the government’s accommodation regarding coverage of contraceptive services.

The federal health care regulations require health insurance plans to provide free contraceptive coverage. However, in response to objections by religious-affiliated employers, the government has provided an “opt out” of that mandate in two ways: the employers may file a form to the insurer or the government that they have religious objections to the coverage, or they may submit a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services stating their objections.

The religious nonprofits that have turned to the Supreme Court contend that merely filling out the form or writing the letter make them complicit in providing the contraceptive health coverage because it facilitates their employees receiving the coverage.

The justices directed the religious organizations and the government to address whether the contraceptive coverage requirement and the government’s accommodation violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. Specifically, the court wants to know whether the accommodations constitute a substantial burden on the organizations’ exercise of religion, and whether they are not the least restrictive means of achieving any compelling interest of the government.

Seven of eight federal circuit courts have upheld the government’s accommodation: the D.C., Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh and Tenth circuits. One circuit has ruled to the contrary, the Eighth. There are multiple challenges pending in other district and circuit courts.

            The cases that the justices chose to decide on Friday are:

            Zubik v. Burwell (Third Circuit)

            Priests for Life v. Dept. of Health & Human Services (D.C. Circuit)

            Roman Catholic Archbishop v. Burwell (D.C. Circuit)

            East Texas Baptist University v. Burwell (Fifth Circuit)

            Little Sisters of the Poor v. Burwell (Tenth Circuit)

            Southern Nazarene University v. Burwell (Tenth Circuit)

            Geneva College v. Burwell (Third Circuit)

IMAGE:

Sister Loraine Marie Maguire, of Little Sisters of the Poor, speaks to members of the media after attending a hearing in the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Denver, Colorado, on December 8, 2014.
Photo: Brennan Linsley/AP

For more on this story go to: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/legaltimes/id=1202741851593/Supreme-Court-To-Hear-Cases-From-Religious-Foes-of-Contraception#ixzz3r8CmmO7r