In State of California v. Azar, (9th Cir., Dec. 13, 2018), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision affirmed in part a preliminary injunction issued by a California federal district court against enforcement of the Trump Administration's Interim Final Rules expanding religious and moral exemptions to the Affordable Care Act Contraceptive Coverage Mandate. The preliminary injunction, however, will likely have a limited effect. Final rules similar to the interim ones have been issued and will become effective Jan. 14, 2019. The basis for the district court's preliminary injunction was noncompliance with the Administrative Procedure Act's notice and comment requirements in adoption of the interim rules. When the final rules take effect, the problematic interim rules will disappear. The 9th Circuit also held that the district court's injunction was too broad. It should have covered only enforcement against the five states that were plaintiffs (California, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland New York), rather than being a nation-wide injunction.
Judge Kleinfeld dissented arguing that the states lack standing to bring the suit because their injuries were self-inflicted. The injury to the states came from their decisions to grant contraceptive benefits to employees whose employers were exempted by the interim rules. Reuters reports on the decision.
