Court rules in favor of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York Against Obamacare's HHS Mandate

By Susan Duclos

Via The Beckett Fund For Religious Liberty

“There is no ‘Trust us changes are coming’ clause in the Constitution.” — Judge Cogan 


For  Immediate Release: December 6, 2012

Media Contact: Emily Hardman, 202.349.7224

Washington, D.C. — In a landmark ruling against the HHS Mandate, yesterday a federal judge ruled against the government holding that the supposed “safe harbor” was inadequate to protect religious organizations from suffering imminent harm.

“We are pleased the court recognized the significant harm that the mandate is causing right now,” said Eric Baxter, Senior Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. ”Religious organizations that object to the mandate are subject to private lawsuits, as well as being faced with critical budgeting, and health insurance decisions in the face of millions of dollars in fines. Truly the ‘safe harbor’ is neither a harbor nor safe.”

The judge concluded that “There is no ‘Trust us changes are coming’ clause in the Constitution.”  The court further stated that “ignoring the speeding train that is coming toward plaintiffs in the hope that it will stop might well be inconsistent with the fiduciary duties that plaintiffs’ directors or officers owe to their members.”

There are now 40 separate lawsuits challenging the HHS mandate, which is a regulation under the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”).  The Becket Fund led the charge against the unconstitutional HHS mandate, and currently represents: Hobby Lobby, Wheaton College, East Texas Baptist University, Houston Baptist University, Belmont Abbey College, Colorado Christian University, the Eternal Word Television Network, and Ave Maria University.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty  is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions—from Anglicans to Zoroastrians. For 18 years its attorneys have been recognized as experts in the field of church-state law. The Becket Fund recently won a 9-0 victory in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, which The Wall Street Journal called one of “the most important religious liberty cases in a half century.”