A Victory for Religious Liberty

Publisher's Note

I’m sure that, like me, millions of Americans were grateful to see the Supreme Court’s rejection of the Obama administration’s unjust case against the Little Sisters of the Poor. (See story on page one.) We heartily congratulate the sisters, and we offer prayers of gratitude that they may continue their mission with renewed strength and encouragement.

But really, when the Supreme Court was faced with the illogic of the federal government’s attempt to force the Little Sisters to provide contraception, abortion, sterilization and abortifacient services in their health care, how could the eight justices, no matter what their political stripe, have ruled otherwise?

The court, on May 16, remanded Zubik v. Burwell — a case which, along with the Little Sisters, includes the Archdiocese of Washington, Priests for Life, Southern Nazarene University, Geneva College and East Texas Baptist University — back to the Circuit Courts of Appeals for reconsideration, in light of the “positions asserted by the parties in their supplemental briefs.”

It is a clear victory for those of us who believe in the principle of religious liberty, the first freedom protected in the U.S. Constitution. It further bolsters the cases of EWTN and all of the plaintiffs who have spent the last several years fighting against the government’s attempt to hijack our employer-sponsored health-care plans in order to force us to provide contraception, abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization procedures.

The Supreme Court has now said what we have been saying throughout our challenge of the HHS mandate: that the government does indeed have less restrictive means to accomplish its goals without forcing religious organizations like EWTN and the Little Sisters of the Poor to violate our strongly held moral beliefs or face crushing fines.

The government itself was forced to admit this as part of its case before the Supreme Court. 

With regard to EWTN’s own case, the ruling by the Supreme Court strikes down several of the key decisions upon which the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based its previous ruling against EWTN. While we await further action by the 11th Circuit in the EWTN case, we are even more confident that we will prevail. Thank you for your continued prayers.

God bless you!