A suit filed in a Maryland federal district court last week raises the question of whether a corporation created by the Maryland legislature to operate the University of Maryland Medical Center is a state actor for purposes of the 1st and 14th Amendments. The corporation acquired St. Joseph Hospital in 2012 and continued to operate it under Catholic Directives for healthcare. This resulted in the hospital refusing to allow a scheduled hysterectomy on a transgender man undergoing treatment for gender dysphoria. The complaint (
full text) in
Hammons v. University of Maryland Medical System Corporation, (D MD, filed 7/16/2020). alleges in part:
Defendants are instrumentalities of the State of Maryland and subject to the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. But, in violation of those constitutional obligations, Defendants operate University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center as a Catholic institution, guided by “Catholic health care values” and bound by the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” established by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (the “Catholic Directives”)....
By purchasing the St. Joseph hospital and signing an agreement to operate the hospital as a Catholic institution and in accordance with the Catholic Directives, UMMS has violated the Establishment Clause by, among other things, (a) creating an impermissible fusion of governmental and religious functions; (b) impermissibly delegating government authority to be exercised in accordance with religious criteria; (c) impermissibly endorsing religion; (d) taking government action that has the primary purpose and effect of advancing religion; (e) creating unconstitutional governmental entanglement with religion; (e) favoring one set of religious beliefs over others; and (f) impermissibly coercing individuals to act in accordance with particular religious beliefs.
ACLU issued a
press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.
Washington Post reports on the lawsuit.
[Thanks to Scott Mange for the lead.]
