Monday round-up

By Amy Howe
on Feb 3, 2014 at 9:23 am

Briefly:

• In The Washington Post, Robert Barnes discusses how the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 1993 law “championed by Senate Democrats (including one named Joe Biden) to undermine a Supreme Court ruling written by Justice Antonin Scalia has become the latest obstacle to the Affordable Care Act” – specifically, the law’s contraception mandate, at issue in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius.
• Michael Kirkland of UPI reports on the Court’s January 24 order giving the Little Sisters of the Poor a temporary victory in their challenge to the ACA’s contraceptive mandate, including an analysis of how, “[i]f signing the form unacceptably involves the sisters in the governmental apparatus that may lead to contraception insurance coverage, does notifying Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of their religious objections, even though it spares them for the moment, amount to essentially the same thing?”

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