Obama Administration Takes Another Pass on Defending HHS Mandate “Please keep looking the other way”

Last night, the Obama administration attempted to fend off the second in a series of lawsuits challenging its mandate that religious institutions provide health services contrary to their faith.  The administration’s filing again urges the court to duck the key issues merely because it has said the mandate might be changed at some unspecified date in the future.

“The administration is taking the remarkable position that announcing future plans at a press conference means the courts should ignore the law on the books,” said Hannah Smith, Senior Counsel at Becket Law.

The lawsuit filed by Becket on behalf of Colorado Christian University was the first from a non-denominational Christian university, showing how widespread concern is over the violations of religious liberty in the President’s health care reform.

“The American people can’t afford to wait as their constitutionally protected freedom of religion is being eroded,” said Smith.  “We are continuing our pursuit of all four lawsuits to protect Americans of faith from this federal dictate that violates their conscience.”

Becket Law is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions. Becket has a 17-year history of defending religious liberty for people of all faiths. Its attorneys are recognized as experts in the field of church-state law, and they recently won a 9-0 victory against the federal government at the U.S. Supreme Court in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC.

For more information, or to arrange an interview with one of the attorneys, please contact Melinda Skea at media@becketlaw.org or call 202.349.7224.