By: Derek Hawkins//September 8, 2015//
Civil
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Officials: MANION, ROVNER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges
Affordable Care Act
No. 14-1430; 14-1431 Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Inc. et al v. Sylvia Mathews Burwell
ACA regulation mandate related to contraceptive services did not impose substantial burden on appellant free exercise rights.
“The Catholic plaintiffs also contend that the mandate has the effect of artificially dividing the Catholic Church into a “worship” arm (the Diocese) and a “good works” arm (the remaining Catholic plaintiffs). Again, though, groups affiliated with the Diocese may opt out of providing contraceptive coverage using the accommodation and thus continue to provide health coverage under the Diocese’s health plan. Both arms of the Church are therefore extricated from the provision of objectionable contraceptive services, albeit through different means. Moreover, any division is created not by the ACA but by the Internal Revenue Code that excepts “churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches” from certain requirements. See 26 U.S.C. § 6033(a)(3)(A)(i). It is difficult to see how laws and regulations that grant tax advantages to churches and their integrated auxiliaries somehow impose a substantial burden on affiliates.”
Reversed and Remanded