High court sides with Trump in birth control opt-out case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with the Trump administration in its effort to allow employers who cite religious or moral objections to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women as required by the Affordable Care Act.
The high court on Wednesday said 7-2 the administration acted properly when it made the change, which lower courts had blocked.
"We hold today that the Departments had the statutory authority to craft that exemption, as well as the contemporaneously issued moral exemption. We further hold that the rules promulgating these exemptions are free from procedural defects," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for a majority of the court.
The government had estimated that the rule changes would cause about 70,000 women, and at most 126,000 women, to lose contraception coverage in one year.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cited those numbers in dissenting.
"In accommodating claims of religious freedom, this Court has taken a balanced approach, one that does not allow the religious beliefs of some to overwhelm the rights and interests of others who do not share those beliefs. Today, for the first time, the Court casts totally aside countervailing rights and interests in its zeal to secure religious rights to the nth degree," she wrote.
Birth control has been a topic of contention since the law was passed. Initially, churches, synagogues and mosques were exempt from the contraceptive coverage requirement. The Obama administration also created a way by which religiously affiliated organizations including hospitals, universities and charities could opt out of paying for contraception, but women on their health plans would still get no-cost birth control. Some groups complained the opt-out process itself violated their religious beliefs.
That opt-out process was the subject of a 2016 Supreme Court case, but the court, with only eight justices at the time because of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, didn’t decide the issue. It instead sent both sides back to see if they could work out a compromise.
After the Trump administration took over, officials announced a rule change that allows many companies and organization with religious or moral objections to opt out of covering birth control without providing an alternate avenue for coverage. But the change was blocked by courts after New Jersey and Pennsylvania challenged it.
Court sides with Catholic schools in employment suit
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is siding with two Catholic schools in a ruling that underscores that certain employees of religious schools, hospitals and social service centers can't sue for employment discrimination.
The high court's ruling on Wednesday was 7-2.
The justices had previously said in a unanimous 2012 decision that the Constitution prevents ministers from suing their churches for employment discrimination. The court said then that the required separation of church and state means that religious groups must be allowed to hire and fire individuals who serve as teachers or messengers of their faith, without court interference. But the court didn't rigidly define who counts as a minister.
Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion Tuesday that allowing courts to consider workplace discrimination claims against the schools would interfere with the schools' çonstitutionally guaranteed religious independence.
"The religious education and formation of students is the very reason for the existence of most private religious schools, and therefore the selection and supervision of the teachers upon whom the schools rely to do this work lie at the core of their mission," Alito wrote.
In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that as many as 100,000 employees could lose the right to contest job discrimination as a result of the ruling.
"The Court reaches this result even though the teachers taught primarily secular subjects, lacked substantial religious titles and training, and were not even required to be Catholic," Sotomayor wrote in an opinion that was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The case was one of 10 the high court heard arguments in by telephone in May because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It involved two schools in Southern California that were sued by former teachers. In one case, Kristen Biel sued St. James Catholic School in Torrance for disability discrimination after she disclosed she had breast cancer and her teaching contract wasn't renewed.
In the other case, Agnes Morrissey-Berru sued Our Lady of Guadalupe school in Hermosa Beach for age discrimination after her teaching contract wasn't renewed when she was in her 60s. The lawsuits were both initially dismissed, but an appeals court revived them. The Trump administration had backed the schools.
Biel died last year at age 54 after a five-year battle with breast cancer. Her husband has represented her side in her place.
The cases are St. James School v. Biel, 19-348, and Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, 19-267.
Chief Justice Roberts recently spent a night in a hospital
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts spent a night in a hospital last month after he fell and injured his forehead, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said Tuesday night.
Roberts was walking for exercise near his home June 21 when he fell, court spokeswoman Kathleen L. Arberg said in an emailed statement. The injury required sutures, she said, and out of an abundance of caution, Roberts stayed in the hospital overnight.
Roberts' injury and hospitalization was first reported by The Washington Post, which reported that the fall happened at the Chevy Chase Club in Maryland.
Roberts, 65, suffered a seizure at his summer home in Maine in 2007, causing a fall that resulted in minor scrapes, and had a similar episode in 1993. Arberg said that Roberts' doctors "ruled out a seizure" this time.
"They believe the fall was likely due to light-headedness caused by dehydration," she said.
The fall took place three days after the court grabbed headlines with a 5-4 decision written by Roberts rejecting President Donald Trump's effort to end legal protections for 650,000 young immigrants.
Supreme Court justices are not required to disclose injuries or health issues. However, during the coronavirus pandemic, Arberg has confirmed on a regular basis that the justices are in good health. Other justices, including Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, have at times notified the public about hospitalizations.
Most recently, in May, when the justices heard arguments by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic, the 87-year-old Ginsburg made public the fact she was at a Maryland hospital to receive nonsurgical treatment for an infection caused by a gallstone.
She spent one night at the hospital and participated in court arguments by telephone from her hospital room.
The Supreme Court is wrapping up the release of opinions for cases argued in May. Five cases remain before the court is expected to take its summer break.
