Over a year ago, the Little Sisters of the Poor fought the Obama Administration at the Supreme Court for their right not to violate their conscience by being forced to provide contraception and other objectionable drugs to their employees, as was required by Obamacare. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Little Sisters of the Poor, declaring that the government could not impose taxes or penalties on the nonprofit group for failing to provide these drugs to their employees. Therefore, all lower court opinions that went against the religious freedom of the nonprofit group and other religious nonprofits were voided and their arguments cannot be used as precedent in the future.
Now, the Democratic Attorneys General of Pennsylvania and California are teaming up to sue the Little Sisters once again to take away their religious exemption. So why are these Democrats insisting on fighting a losing battle for the second time?
A new rule lawfully protecting religious non-profits like the Little Sisters of the Poor was enacted by the Trump Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services to protect religious non-profits like the Little Sisters of the Poor from providing contraception drugs that violate their religious beliefs. Meanwhile, Attorney General Xavier Becerra of California is up for reelection in 2018 and newly-elected Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is looking to make a huge splash by contributing to the Democrats’ losing strategy of opposing everything put out by the Trump Administration.
The lead attorney for the Little Sisters of the Poor, Mark Rienzi, responded to the new challenge with a powerful statement: “Sadly Josh Shapiro and Xavier Becerra think attacking nuns is a way to score political points. These men may think their campaign donors want them to sue nuns, but our guess is most taxpayers disagree. No one needs nuns in order to get contraceptives, and no one needs these guys reigniting the last administration’s divisive and unnecessary culture war.” Rienzi told the Washington Examiner that the case is “political grandstanding.”
Mother Loraine Marie Maguire of the Little Sisters of the Poor said: “We pray that these state governments will leave us alone and let us do our work in peace.” Some of the Little Sisters of the Poor will be present at hearings in December to stand up for the Trump Administration’s attempt to provide relief to those who do not want to violate their religious or moral beliefs while caring for their communities.