The nation’s highest-ranking justices could announce as early as Tuesday whether they’ll accept a case that pits Obamacare versus religious liberty, as played in the health care overhaul’s regulatory approach to birth control.
Supreme Court justices could review that aspect of the new health care law that mandates employers provide insurance coverage for workers that includes contraception, CNN reported. At issue: What about private employers who have a religious objection to providing the coverage? Four petitions are before the court, representative of the nearly 100 suits that have been filed in federal court by business entities around the nation.
If justices take the case, it will likely go forth for argument in March, and a ruling could come in June, CNN said.
Three federal courts have struck down the regulation; two other federal appeals courts have upheld it. And the split makes the case ripe for Supreme Court review, judicial analysts say, CNN reported.
One plaintiff: Hobby Lobby Inc., a 500-plus chain business that employs about 13,000. The owners say their Christian beliefs will not allow them to provide some of the contraceptive services called for in Obamacare — namely, the drugs that prevent embryos from being implanted in wombs, which some see as akin to abortion. Hobby Lobby says it is willing to provide other forms of contraceptive coverage, to include condoms and diaphrams.
Companies that don’t comply with the new insurance mandate could face a collective fine of $1.3 million each day, CNN reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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