Ave Maria Universtiy and Law School Granted Injunctions in Obamacare Suit
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Published on Tuesday, 28 October 2014 18:00
The U.S. District Court has issued temporary injunctions in favor of Ave Maria University and the Ave Maria School of Law in the lawsuits filed by both institutions against the mandate by the federal government that health insurance plans provide coverage for contraceptives.
Both schools were facing a Nov. 1 deadline to begin providing the coverage or face fines that potentially could be in the millions of dollars each year.
The orders by U.S. District Court Judge James Moody will be in effect until higher courts decide the issue.
A statement by the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented AMU, said the rulings today are the first since the federal government issued modified regulations in August which the department of Health and Human Services said relieved religiously-affiliated organizations from the requirement to provide contraceptive coverage. Ave Maria University and several other institutions, as well as the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops, disagreed.
Eric Baxter, senior counsel for the Becket Fund, said, "After dozens of court rulings, the government still doesn't seem to get that it can't force faith institutions to violate their beliefs. Fortunately, the courts continue to see through the government's attempts to disguise the mandate's religious coercion. We congratulate Ave Maria for its courage, even under the threat of crippling fines."
In his rulings (see links below), Judge Moody said the Ave Maria cases are similar to an appeal filed by EWTN, which also is represented by The Becket Fund, that is before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit and the injunctions remain in effect pending the outcome of that case.
Ave Maria University President Jim Towey welcomed the news and vowed to carry on. "Be assured that Ave Maria University will press on until our religious liberty rights are fully vindicated," he said on his blog on the university's website. "This is a huge victory for religious freedom and the right of Ave Maria University to exercise its lawful religious liberty," Mr. Towey said in a statement. "This may be the beginning of the end for the Obamacare mandate as the ripple effect of this decision will be felt in the scores of other cases pending in the federal court system."
Law School President and Dean Kevin Cieply said he was "elated," adding that the decision "allows us to practice our faith without being forced by the federal government to compromise our beliefs by providing contraceptive and abortifacient coverage for employees."
Mr. Cieply also said the school was "especially proud of the fact that our attorney on this case from Alliance Defending Freedom, Matt Bowman, is a 2003 Ave Maria School of Law graduate."
Click here for full statement from Ave Maria University
Click here for judge's ruling for Ave Maria University
Click here for ruling for the Ave Maria School of Law
