Friday afternoon, aka the “Friday News Dump,” is the time when folks in the United States release news they don’t want anyone to notice.
This is a time-honored tradition inside the Beltway, when agencies under siege and beleaguered politicians announce their mea culpas or publish their email trails.
It is rare for courts to play politics with the release of their decisions and opinions, and there is no reason to think that U.S. District Court Judge John Kane of Colorado intended to bury the result of Newland v. Sebelius July 27.
However, because of the timing, many people missed it.
Certainly those in the mainstream media missed it — or simply wanted to ignore it.
For Kane’s 18-page opinion is a body blow to the Obamacare regulations requiring Catholic employers, hospitals and schools to violate their consciences by providing health-insurance coverage to their employees that pays for sterilization, birth control and “morning after” pills.
The plaintiffs in Newland are the owners of Hercules Industries Inc., a maker and distributor of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) products and equipment. They are siblings, and they are Catholic to the core.
And while they have long provided generous health benefits to their employees, the Newland family did not want to pay for abortifacients or any other procedure or drug condemned by the Church as an instrument of evil.
With the help of the superb lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly the Alliance Defense Fund), the Newlands sought relief from President Barack Obama’s mandate, citing both the protections of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Judge Kane granted their request for relief, finding that, despite the high hurdle required by a motion for a preliminary injunction, the Newlands had cleared that hurdle.
The judge didn’t have to rule on the constitutional issue. His analysis of the federal statute left him with an obvious ruling: “The balance of the equities tips strongly in favor of injunctive relief in this case.”
“Freedom of conscience has won an important victory,” Mitt Romney declared in a statement after the judge issued his ruling. “Today’s injunction preventing the federal government from forcing one family business from having to choose between keeping its doors open and violating its faith is a step in the right direction.”
“But it is only a step, not the end of the struggle,” Romney continued. “We must ensure that the same freedom to live according to one’s faith is available to all Americans.”
“If I am elected president, I will never cease fighting for freedom of conscience as it is guaranteed under the First Amendment,” Romney concluded, and, with that commitment, the campaign of 2012 added another issue of enormous importance to the nation’s Catholics to the table.
Obama is defending the Health and Human Services regulations. Romney is committed to their repeal. And private-sector employers now have a map on how to take action to prevent the government from making them choose between their faith and compliance with the law.
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare, many Catholics were disappointed, even distraught. Even on the day of that decision, however, many were pointing to a silver lining: The federal courts would have to deal with the religious-freedom claims triggered by Obamacare now that the law in its entirety wasn’t struck down.
Courts would have to weigh the merits of the claims of Catholics and other religious institutions. (Wheaton and Geneva Colleges and Colorado Christian University have joined the lawsuits challenging the HHS regulations.) Opinions would issue from the circuit courts, and, hopefully, the Supreme Court then would confront the issue of how far the state could intrude upon rights of conscience. Those decisions would, many of us believed, uphold this country’s tradition of a robust protection for religious faith.
The first of those decisions is in, and it is all that we could have hoped for. That Judge Kane issued a permanent injunction even before a trial on the merits is very significant because it means that the issue wasn’t even close.
The HHS regulations, despite Obama’s strong defense of them, are clearly illegal in the opinion of this judge, and his opinion is so tightly reasoned that other courts are sure to give it great weight in considering their own challenges.
It is true that media missed the story and that the “Friday News Dump” obscured this most-important turn of events. But tell your friends and family: Help is on the way.
What is vitally necessary now is for other private employers to step forward and present their facts to courts.
The Newlands have shown the way and are to be thanked for their courage. Lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom or other groups like the Becket Fund (which is representing the Register’s parent company, EWTN) will evaluate any case that any private employer may want to press to free themselves from Obamacare’s imposition on their genuine religious beliefs.
If you are a company president or owner who doesn’t want to pay for the morning-after pill in the health insurance you are in the process of buying or will soon have to buy, contact one of these legal-defense organizations and ask for help.
If you aren’t in a position like the Newlands, nevertheless, you have a role to play — and that is to ask your elected officials what they are doing about these new rules in the aftermath of this case.
Call their offices and ask for a response. Demand clarity.
Enforce accountability via your vote and your contribution.
This is a time for choosing, and all voters have a right to know if their representatives and senators are going to choose religious freedom or loyalty to the president and his ill-conceived attack on the First Amendment on behalf of the abortion-rights absolutists.
Hugh Hewitt is an American radio talk-show host.
He teaches law at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California.
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The Media of False Values are crowing on how offering contraception to women will cost less than if the women become pregnant. Those in the Pro-Life movement need to educate via any blogs, comment forums, etc., on how contraception can hurt women whether it be from cancer, blood clots, suicide [post-abortive], and feeling of loss when they or any of their children feel the longing of those who were never born. I work with a non-Catholic woman who from time to time feels that loss as she talks about how her mother got sterilized and declared she was no longer having any children.
Let us pray that all Christians will follow suit, at least until we can get rid of OBAMACARE, Obama and his OBAMANISM that is destroying our country. +JMJ+
Actually, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), was the first organization to file a challenge to the HHS Mandate on behalf of a business owner—Frank O’Brien, Jr. and O’Brien Industrial Holdings, LLC of St. Louis. People may want to contact that organization as well: http://www.aclj.org
Given what this article says, any Catholic who votes for Obama truly is an enemy of the Church. There is no middle ground: as Jesus noted, he who does not gather with me, scatters. The Democrats support abortion; they recently have announced plans to incorporate gay “marriage” into their party’s platform; and, as this article notes, Romney will fight for freedom of religion, while Obama is a fascist who supports government control over the rights of individuals, including the right to the free practice of religion.
Obama’s ego and pride will be his downfall,he is very anti christian and is doing satan’s work for him,the prevention and distruction of human life is a direct insult to God and his creation
We must “fight the good fight”. Congrats Hercules Ind. & Judge Kane in CO.
Editor! Hello, editor!
I was getting ready to forward this article to some other people - until I read the following:
“... citing both the protections of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment of the 1993 U.S. Constitution.”
The 1993 U.S. Constitution???
Of course I realize this is unintentional but sadly it’s just the sort of thing that casts doubt on the reliability of everything it touches.
Thank you for your attention -
Ed
Great news! All of you out there who object to Obama’s tyranny crusade against religion need to put up or shut up. We ALL need to send donations small or large, to the Alliance Defending Freedom fund or the Beckett Foundation RIGHT NOW, TODAY!!!We need to build a war chest to assist companies large and small to fight the good fight. My check is in the mail,how about yours?
Great decision, precedent for what comes next in the heart of this issue- the First Amendment.
Actually my fellow Americans we can all donate monthly via debit card, credit card etc,. I have and will continue to do so until he calls me home. As a minister I have serious problems with this OBum careless program.WE are not a socialist country. I personally thank the ADF and his honor judge Kane, for caring about our liberty’s.
So, I assume then members of Church of Christ Scientists can refuse to offer insurance at all since they don’t believe in medical treatment, but in solely prayer as a means of healing. Moreover, can Mormons and Muslims refuse to offer coverage for any alcohol related health issues, including allergic reactions? Lastly, do these same catholics refuse to pay a portion of their taxes that go to unjust wars and a bloated defense budget and instead give those monies to charity to serve the social justice call of Jesus?
just wondering
“...offering contraception to women will cost less than if the women become pregnant.”
The thing to remind people is that it is not about cost. If it were only about cost, we could make health care a lot cheaper by just euthanizing the old and infirm.
I object to paying for abortion and sterilization. EVEN If it means I must pay more for pre-natal and maternity care.
Wonderful decision!
By the way, Sallie—Yes, I think that Christ Scientists should be able to refuse insurance, and so on. The difference between this and taxes is that the government collects taxes by force, and decides what to spend it on. In this case, the government is simply telling you that you must buy insurance that covers these different things. You must pay for this product, because the government says so. That is another step worse and more personally involved than just, “You must give me this money. The government will use it for its purposes.”
When Obama was first introduced onto the national political stage I was very pleased to see an african-american candidate. As I listened to his views and investigated his voting record and affiliations I became very alarmed and dismayed.I decided to pray to God that we would come to see him as he really is! Now I see the mask is off…He has unleashed the most blatent attack on religious liberty this country has ever experienced.He has divided this country…steering hard left…all for his political agenda.The economy is in a shambles. The rights of all are under attack…..BORN and UNBORN…..
wake up ......PRAY….FAST…..VOTE…
The reason for the birth control is because it is cheaper for the providers. So my premiums are going up because of your teenage daughters pregnancies.
There are risks in the pill but I am not a doctor and neither are any of you. Having a mentally challenged daughter will not have a baby over my dead body just because the church advocates that it would be a blessing for her to have a baby. I love the religion but I dislike the church. The church has a lack of love, tolerance and forgiveness. Obama is an American,Christian,and family man with no dirt on him. We all should love him for the things he has done to help all Americans. Don’t dishonor your President of the United States. It is still a democracy don’t lose it or your life will be devastated.
Freedom of religion also includes freedom from religion. Please don’t turn this America into a Theocracy. Theocracies do not work and u can see it in the middle east.
We must pray for our must cherished freedom to be protected.
No one should be gratuitously forced to act against their consciences!
All of u are incorrect in thinking that choice has been taken away. Please wake up. Though u may think freedom of religion has been circumcised it has not. Obama care made it available for those that want it or not. Lets be an adult about it and chose wisely instead of crying foul. Obama is pro-life. Get real.
Obama has a radical pro-abortion record. He even voted for infanticide (see BAIPA). He is a bad president.
Bill, take a breath and let someone else get a word in edgewise…
Is your mentally challenged daughter having sex? Is she competent to freely consent to that? It would be a shame if someone were taking advantage of her.
Yes, it would be bad to have a “theocracy.” I see secularism as a religion too, quite similar to atheism. I don’t want them demanding that I behave as a secularist, on threat of financial ruin if I refuse. Isn’t that fair enough? Don’t you want to be free to choose the kind of insurance you want? Shouldn’t Catholics and Jews and Moslems also be allowed to choose the kind of insurance they want?
The funny thing is that people are pretending that contraception must now become free, or else religious people are forcing you not to have it. It is readily available now, why must it become paid for by someone else, in order for you to have your freedom?
Yes, Bill, our choice is being taken away. Up until now religious people who choose to provide insurance for themselves or others have been able to decide to not cover contraception. (With some exceptions, some states do require it.) Now, however, religious people will lose that freedom, and be forced to pay for it. No more choice, the federal government knows who is “religious enough” and no one else is allowed to choose.
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