Good for the Catholic bishops.
About a week ago, with much fanfare, Team Obama announced a “compromise” to the contraceptive mandate it aims to impose on employers. Thursday, the bishops said they’ve seen the offer and it doesn’t amount to much: The administration’s highly restrictive view of what qualifies as a religious ministry still puts Catholic universities, charities and hospitals at risk.
The bishops also resisted the administration’s effort to get the church to take protection for itself at the expense of others, especially private individuals and family-owned businesses. “We cannot now abandon them,” said the bishops’ statement.
Recall that it was the Obama folks who picked this unnecessary fight and then put it off until after the election. Recall, too, that the last time they argued a religious-liberty case before the Supreme Court — contesting a Lutheran school’s right to decide which employees count as ministers — the court slammed the White House down, 9-0.
Today, more than three dozen lawsuits are challenging the mandate, with plaintiffs ranging from Notre Dame and the Archdiocese of New York to evangelical Wheaton College and family-owned Hobby Lobby.
So it looks like this issue is headed to the place this administration should fear most: the US Supreme Court. As well it should.