Supreme Court Enjoins Enforcement of Contraceptive Mandate Against Religious Non-Profit Contingent On Alternative Filing During Appeal

On New Year's Eve, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a temporary injunction to prevent immediate enforcement of the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage mandate compromise against the Little Sisters of the Poor. (See prior posting.) Now that the Supreme Court has received the government's response in the case, today the full Supreme Court issued the following unusual order , creating its own sort of compromise as the case proceeds on appeal:

The application for an injunction having been submitted to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court, the Court orders: If the employer applicants inform the Secretary of Health and Human Services in writing that they are non-profit organizations that hold themselves out as religious and have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services, the respondents are enjoined from enforcing against the applicants the challenged provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and related regulations pending final disposition of the appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. To meet the condition for injunction pending appeal, applicants need not use the form prescribed by the Government and need not send copies to third-party administrators. The Court issues this order based on all of the circumstances of the case, and this order should not be construed as an expression of the Court’s views on the merits.