8th Circuit Invokes Hobby Lobby To Reverse In For-Profit Challenge To Contraceptive Mandate

Earlier this month in a per curiam two-paragraph order, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, invoking the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision, reversed a Missouri federal district court's dismissal of a RFRA claim (see prior posting) by a for-profit company that objected to the contraceptive coverage mandate. The case is O'Brien v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 8th Cir., Sept. 8, 2014). The 8th circuit also vacated and remanded the district court's dismissal of other claims in the case, without expressing a view on their merits.