The Little Sisters of the Poor have won a permanent stay from the US Supreme Court while they pursue their appeal. Ed Morrissey gives us the details:
The first Supreme Court stay of the HHS contraception mandate, issued by Justice Sonia Sotomayor on New Years Eve, was a pause in the proceedings in order for the court to consider whether the Little Sisters of the Poor would suffer significant damage if forced to comply while their challenge is on appeal. Today, the whole court issued a stay of more significance — one that extends to another group suing to block enforcement:
The Supreme Court said on Friday that, while litigation continues, the federal government may not enforce a part of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law that requires employers to provide insurance covering contraception against an order of nuns and one other Roman Catholic Church-affiliated group.
The court said, however, that the groups in question must first notify the Department of Health and Human Services in writing that they object to the so-called contraception mandate.
The Washington Post has the full order, which is brief enough. Note the caveat:
The Court issues this order based on all of the circumstances of the case, and this order should not be construed as an expression of the Court’s views on the merits.
However, in order for a court to issue a stay, there generally has to be two measures met. First, the applicant has to have a real chance at winning the argument, and there has to be demonstrable and significant damage resulting from a denial of a stay. If the court agrees that the Little Sisters and the Christian Brothers (the other plaintiff) both have a real chance of prevailing on the merits and will suffer damage without injunctive relief, then it seems that the Supreme Court is at least open to their case.
Go here to read the rest. Obama thought the contraceptive mandate was a cost free political move and cared not a fig for whether it was constitutional. We shall see if the Court cares.
That Obama thinks he has the authority to force celibate Catholic nuns to buy insurance for contraceptives is unfathomable but shows the height of hubris to which he ascends. He ought to remember what happened to King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4 for similar arrogance. It was no fun when God made the King go insane and eat grass like an ox.
[…] Ros. T. Sullivan Why Big Numbers Can Cause Big Problems – Trent Horn, Catholic Answers Little Sisters of the Poor : 1; Obama: 0 – Donald R. McClarey JD, TACatholic Honesty Alert: ‘So What If Abortion Ends Life?’ 2.0 […]
“…there has to be demonstrable and significant damage resulting from a denial of a stay.”
The loss of one’s soul is rather significant damage. The circumventing of informed consent, the will of the people, for the mandate and taxation without representation is rather significant damage. “…or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” of one’s conscience is rather significant damage. The time and money and resources to fight for the truth and freedom are rather significant damage.
“…Obama thought the contraceptive mandate was a cost free political move.”
I believe that Obama had planned to sneak the mandate in before Obamacare was passed by Congress. That was the only way it could have been done. The people would not have stood still to be ripped off. A man who would let babies, real citizens, die in a cold broom closet, can have no heart for his constituents.
“…there has to be demonstrable and significant damage resulting from a denial of a stay.”
To force a man to pay for himself to be dispossessed of his civil rights and his progeny, our constitutional posterity, is not government. It is insane.
Another argument that often weighs heavily with a court is that the balance of convenience usually favours preserving the status quo, pending the Proof.
Why has there not been a class action suit filed for Catholic laity in given parishes who will be forced to pay for abortions/abortifacients/contraception. If individuals don’t have religious conscience freedoms then no group of people do.
Proverbs 16.18 states “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall”
I do not think America has ever seen such a self-righteous and haughty administration, however, this haughtiness will not end with the end of the Obama administration. That needs to be seen. It also needs to be seen that roughly half the country is either favorable or does not care about the fundamental shift of direction that our country has taken and is epitomized by this HHS mandate. We live in a fundamentally different country. IMHO lol there were three major moments in this shift:
1) the cultural revolution that took place in the 60’s
2)the “Watergate/post-Watergate debacle”
3)9/11 and the shift of the country to a ‘national security state’ with its concomitant distrust of religion
We are no longer the country of the post WWII, early Cold War America
For us who are committed Catholics that means we need to draw closer together in holy communion: one in the faith of the Catholic Church, in the unity of the sacraments and in and with the whole Catholic community with Peter and the bishops in union with him.
The pressure on the Catholic Church in the West, in general, and America in particular will be greater than anything we have seen in the West for centuries. It will be a time in which many will fall away, out of fear, out of apathy, or for no longer really believing as Catholics.
Other Christians, notably the Orthodox and other Eastern Churches not in union with us as well as some Protestant groups (most likely the Evangelicals, a portion of Lutheran and what is left of the Episcopal church will draw closer to us if not enter into full communion with us.
The forces in the West railed against Judaeo-Christianity-most especially in its fulllest form in the Catholic Church ultimately will be like the surf during a mighty storm breaking on the rocky shores of a continent. They will not prevail but their power and eventually their ideology will dissapear, while the Church though somewhat smaller will be more united and ready to re-evangelize the West
Islamicist forces will also rise further against us in out right persecution, believing they can win the battle of the Crescent Moon against the Cross, however, what they do not recognize is that this is their moment of Judgment. What might have been tallied to cultural differences and real ignorance of what we believe will not longer be ‘tolerated’. The Islamicist forces, denying that the Son of God has come in the flesh will find the sword turning against them as they go down in flames. The remnant of Moslems (and this is about to happen very quickly) will remain in a rabbinic-form of religion drawing closer to Judaism, be out right converted to Jesus Christ or enter into the abyss of non-belief.
But this is all happening soon. This is but the last breath before the storm. We need to ready ourselves and to enter into deeper and fuller communion in the Catholic Church-now, while there is still time.
I am constantly amazed at the stupidity of the Obama administration.
A people actually think he is doing the right thing, and support his travesties?
Don the Kiwi.
A people void of conscience….thats who.
unless a cataclysm drives people back inside the church.
“however, this haughtiness will not end with the end of the Obama administration. ” – Botolph.
That is true! And real change has to happen in us, the Church, or the next administrations will have their way with us.
Michael P-S : “usually favours preserving the status quo, pending the Proof” — yes, I think we counted on that in the past, but everything is not what it once was.
The legal rulings about gay so-called marriage show us that.. the courts do not lean toward precedent on that issue or seem to favor status quo.
Barbara: I agree – yes, we are personally free. All by myself, I have religious freedom.
If we are going to be a holy nation, we have to be holy individuals to make up that nation. If we are going to have religious freedom it will be personal, as well as corporate.
Barack Hussein Barry Soetoro Dunam Obumbler is really an empty suit who mouthed platitudes written by David Axlegrease. He has the substance of an inflatable blow up child’s punching bag doll. He is nothing but the people who have financed his rise and pushed him are pulling the strings. Obumbler is along for the ride. He lives comfortably. He has no personal financial concerns. His wife is a gold-digging mooch. His vice president is, at present, the stupidest man in American politics.
Obumbler only senses the leftist vitriol that was shoved down his throat from his earliest days and despises anything that goes against his ideological upbringing.
Why would he care what the American Catholic hierarchy think? They have been almost uniformly silent against abortion for nearly 40 years. So called Catholic politicians have supported legal abortion, the bishops have done NOTHING and said next to nothing and Obumbler is the happiest puppet to have ever lived.
Add to that the fact that there are countless lukewarm or practicing Catholics who think voting Democrat is part and parcel of being Catholic and there you go.
Penguins Fan,
I would not say the American bishops have been silent in the face of abortion over the last forty years.
Now that they have taken a ‘pastoral’ approach [many would call it too soft] to Catholic politicians who consistently vote for abortion is another matter and certainly can be argued
I totally agree about Catholic having no problem voting for candidates who are prochoice because they vote with a party etc
“If individuals don’t have religious conscience freedoms then no group of people do.”
“…make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.” The wall of separation of church and state in principle comes AFTER “or prohibit the free exercise thereof” which Thomas Jefferson was careful to include.
American citizens have freedom of religion if the atheist, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the godless party “let” us practice our freedom.
[…] Redescubriendo el Domingo – Jon Sorensen, Catholic Answers Por Que es Tan Importante el Escapulario Carmelita?- Sr. M. Colombiere Oracion por la Unidad Cristiana en Nuestra Parroquia? – James Likoudis En Copia de Seguridad de la Verdad con el Poder – J. Zmirak, Aleteia San Francisco El Predicador – i.d. 916 Grandes Numeros Causan Grandes Problemas? – Trent Horn, Cath. Ans 12 Secretos de la Mujer Casada Feliz – T. Thomas, Everyday Catholic Interdicto Corte Suprema Protege Hermanitas de los Pobres – CNA Tropas de Saint George Fotos – Dr. Taylor Marshall Reliquias Higienicas – Kevin Staley-Joyce, First Things Creacion de Nuevo Icono: St.Winifride – D. Clayton, The Way of Beauty Simbolismo y el Lenguaje de la Liturgia – Fr. D. Longenecker, Crisis Esta el Purgatorio en la Biblia? – Tim Staples, Catholic Answers Dentro de la Vida de un Artista Catolico – Nico Peeters, Aleteia La Escena de la Musica Liturgica Romana – K. Pluth, The Chant Café Como Encontre la Misa Extraordinaria – B. Stevens, Regina Magazine Papa Francisco Nueva Enciclica Sobre el Medio Ambiente – Reuters […]