Remember how Hobby Lobby got the courts to allow them exemption from providing contraceptive coverage on religious grounds? Yesterday, the Obama administration made a request to the U.S. Supreme Court: make a decision regarding contraception coverage under Obamacare.
Reuters reports Obama specifically wants the Hobby Lobby decision made in Denver reversed.
“It’s no different from a company paying an employee’s salary and [an employee] making decisions about how to spend that money on their own. The employee might do something with that salary that might disagree with the employer’s views,” Brigitte Amiri, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU, said to Politico.
With the Rise of AI, What IP Disputes in Healthcare Are Likely to Emerge?
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
The administration argues exemptions should be reserved for religious employers, not private companies–that covering contraception is necessary to public health promotion. According to Politico, there have already been two requests to rule on this topic, but the third is the first from the Department of Justice. This weighty ask will likely result in SCOTUS picking up the case when it re-adjourns in October.
For more on how the courts have handled contraceptive decisions around the ACA of late, click here.
