States pushing back on HHS mandate

More than a dozen State Attorneys General have signed onto a letter warning the Obama administration they will sue if the HHS mandate isn’t dropped.

Memorable phrases from the letter:

We are deeply troubled by the unprecedented coercion of organizations and individuals to act contrary to their religious beliefs.

It conflicts with the most basic elements of the freedoms of religion, speech, and association, as provided under the First Amendment.

We believe it represents an impermissible violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment virtually unparalleled in American history.

The proposed mandate provides an insufficiently narrow exemption … To obtain the exemption, a religious organization would have to subject itself to the equivalent of a government “religious audit” … a great number of entities previously exempt from government regulations that run contrary to their religious beliefs would fail to qualify.

The choice for such organizations essentially becomes: provide and subsidize activity in contravention with core religious beliefs, eliminate employer-provided health coverage, or withdraw from public ministry.

Should this unconstitutional mandate be promulgated, we are prepared to vigorously oppose it in court.

Also worth reading:

“The Birth Control Mandate is Unconstitutional” by Horace Cooper
http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA632.html

Cooper is an adjunct fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research, a member of the African-American leadership group Project 21 and a legal commentator. He taught constitutional law at George Mason University in Virginia and was general counsel to U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

CONCLUSION: The Administration’s latest health care mandate is an affront to the free exercise of religion and moral duty so long revered and protected in this country. In fact, in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Hosanna-Tabor, one can only wonder at the thinking and motives behind the new rule. Clearly, little consideration was given to the legality of the mandate, suggesting that the motives were entirely political. But the Administration must have anticipated the vocal objections from the religious communities and simply decided that it didn’t much care whether those communities would cry foul; it was time for them to get in line with the health care program. The message sent by this new directive is loud and unmistakable: If you’re going to be an employer, an insurance provider, or participate in our health care system, you will play by the government’s rules and you will provide free contraception. Religious and conscientious objections will be disregarded and dismissed; fines will be assessed.

But the softer, subtler, and more ominous message in the Administration’s most recent sermon on health care is this: the religious will confine themselves to serving their own congregations, and “inculcating values” within the confines of their own communities. They will no longer educate the children, preach the Gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, speak deliverance to the captives, give sight to the blind, or liberty to them that are bruised – because that’s what Government is anointed to do. Isn’t that what Jesus said?

But there is good news. Ultimately this new regulation will not stand. This mandate is far removed from the mainstream of First Amendment rulings, and badly misreads the Constitution and the important role that religious liberty plays in this country. It overlooks our founding history and relies on an erroneous view that caring acts by Americans are primarily secular acts, instead of the sacred acts of compassion and ministry that they often truly are. If the Congress doesn’t quickly overturn this regulation, the courts will.

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SOURCE:
Obama to Face Lawsuit From Attorneys General Over Mandate
by Steven Ertelt | LifeNews.com | 2/14/12 5:33 PM
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/14/obama-to-face-lawsuit-from-attorneys-general-over-mandate/
TEXT of AG’s letter is included.