States force Little Sisters of the Poor back to court over Obamacare mandate

The states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey are suing the Trump administration and the Little Sisters of the Poor, demanding the Catholic charity must comply with the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate.

Attorneys for the nuns, with the Becket religious liberty firm, argued at the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia on Tuesday that the state governments have the ability to provide contraceptive services without forcing their clients to pay for it through their medical insurance, according to a Becket news release.

After oral arguments before the court, Becket President Mark Rienzi, “Remarkably the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey were in court arguing that the federal government has to force the religious sisters to give out contraception.”

“They actually ended up telling the court today that they weren’t sure if the mandate they were trying to enforce was legal, but the court should just go ahead and issue an order to enforce it anyway,” he added.