Supreme Court Sends Little Sisters of the Poor Case Back To Lower Courts

The Supreme Court has remanded Zubik v. Burwell, concerning the HHS contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act, back to the lower courts. It did not decide whether or not the mandate violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and instead essentially punted the case down for further proceedings. This means that the Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of women religious, will not face fines for not providing contraception coverage.

Zubik v. Burwell is the combined lawsuit of The Little Sisters of the Poor, Priests for Life, and several other religious universities, who claimed that providing birth control to employees via insurance plans was a violation of their religious beliefs.

In Zubik v. Burwell, re ACA contraceptive mandate, Court remands lower-court judgments for further proceedings.
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) May 16, 2016

The Court has not decided whether the birth-control mandate violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) May 16, 2016

In the ruling (which was unanimous), both parties were urged to figure out a plan via the lower courts that can accommodate everyone.

Reactions to the ruling were decidedly mixed:

And since SCOTUS vacated the lower court rulings, this is basically a win for Little Sisters. For now. https://t.co/9mnNRRe8wu
— Ryan T. Anderson (@RyanTAnd) May 16, 2016

This is an invitation for Obama admin to issue new regs taking religious employers out of the loop on contraception. pic.twitter.com/M1ejFvyQSF
— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) May 16, 2016