Justice Dept requested 60 day extension to negotiate deal between religious universities and other plaintiffs on birth control coverage – PB/TK
The Trump Administration May Defend Birth-Control Coverage Against Religious Employers – By Christina Cauterucci April 25 2017
With the Trump administration, it can be hard to tell whether decisions and orders—especially ones that appear positive from a progressive vantage—are backed by a sinister plan, evidence of a misstep, or simply a happy accident. How, for example, should voters interpret Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to keep fighting for the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate? Religious schools and nonprofits have been fighting in court to get out of notifying the government and insurance companies of their religious objections to providing contraception coverage for employees. They argue even the act of filling out such a form violates their religious freedom and “triggers” provision of contraceptives, even though someone else would be paying for those contraceptives. On Monday, the Justice Department signaled that it will continue the Obama administration’s legal battle against these groups.
The case in concern is East Texas Baptist University v. Price, a cluster of lawsuits filed by religious organizations against the Department of Health and Human Services, which the eight-person Supreme Court handed back down last year. The federal government is now supposed to negotiate a compromise with the university and the other plaintiffs in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. After some of the plaintiffs called for the Department of Justice to “admit defeat and dismiss this appeal,” the Trump administration filed a request on Monday for a 60 day extension on its negotiations on account of the many vacancies in the departments that administer the rules in question.
Continue to slate.com article: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/04/25/the_trump_administration_may_defend_birth_control_coverage_against_religious.html
