Constitutional : Affordable Care Act – Contraceptive Mandate – Substantial Burden

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Where non-profit religious educational institutions that offered healthcare services to employees challenged accommodation regulations that allow organizations to opt out of the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate, arguing that they must still submit a document that they believed wrongfully facilitated the delivery of contraceptive coverage, the district court properly granted injunctive relief to the non-profit schools because the accommodation process substantially burdened their religious beliefs.

Judgment is affirmed.

Dordt College v. Burwell (MLW No. 68324/Case No. 14-2726 – 7 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8^th Circuit, Wollman, J.) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa, Bennett, J. (Patrick Nemeroff, Washington, D.C., argued for appellant; Mark B. Stern, Alisa Beth Klein, Adam C. Jed, Megan Barbero and Joshua Marc Salzman appeared on the brief) (Gregory Baylor, Washington, D.C., argued for appellee; Kevin H. Theriot, David Andrew Cortman and Matthew S. Bowman appeared on the brief).

Read the full text of this opinion. (PDF)