EWTN Press Release: Court rules against EWTN in HHS Mandate Case

Appeals Court Rules Against EWTN in HHS Mandate Case

11^th Circuit Court of Appeals Refuses to Protect Catholic Network

Irondale, AL (EWTN) –This afternoon, the 11^th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled against EWTN Global Catholic Network in its long-running battle against the government’s insurance mandate requiring employer-sponsored health plans to provide coverage for contraception, sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs. A three-judge panel issued a 2-1 decision more than a year after oral arguments before the Appeals Court.

“We are extremely disappointed that the Court has refused to protect our religious freedom,” said EWTN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael P. Warsaw. “This decision by the Court of Appeals ignores the arguments that EWTN and numerous plaintiffs around the country have made with regard to this mandate. In effect, this decision orders EWTN to violate its religious beliefs and comply with the government’s HHS mandate or pay massive fines to the IRS.”

In the majority opinion, the Court stated "We accept the plaintiffs’ sincere belief . . . that the accommodation puts them to a choice between honoring their religious beliefs and facing significant penalties. We nonetheless conclude that the accommodation imposes no substantial burden." 

“This is wrong,’ said Lori Windham, Senior Counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead attorney on the case. “Rather than provide these drugs and devices through its own exchanges, our government wants to punish EWTN for practicing its faith. This 2-1 decision is not the end. The government’s unconstitutional mandate has lost repeatedly at the Supreme Court, and we believe it will lose again.”
EWTN filed its original lawsuit Feb. 9, 2012 against the Department of Health & Human Services, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and other government agencies seeking to stop the imposition of the contraception mandate as well as asking the court for a declaratory judgment that the mandate is unconstitutional. The Attorney General of the State of Alabama filed a motion to join EWTN March 22, 2012 as a plaintiff in the lawsuit. That lawsuit was dismissed pending the final HHS mandate rules.

The final rules promulgated in July 2013 granted no relief to EWTN.  In October 2013, EWTN and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange joined together to challenge the unconstitutional HHS mandate. A federal judge ruled against EWTN in that case as well.  Hours after the US Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case in June 2014, the 11^th Circuit granted EWTN an emergency injunction, protecting EWTN from the mandate while it filed an appeal. Today, a different panel of judges rendered a split decision, voting 2-1 against EWTN.

In a blistering dissent, Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat stated: "The majority runs roughshod over the sincerely held religious objections of Eternal Word Television Network," and concluded that "at bottom, the majority’s reasoning takes aim at the heart of RFRA (the Religious Freedom Restoration Act) itself."

Said Warsaw: “As we have said repeatedly, contraception, abortion-inducing drugs and voluntary sterilization are not health care and the government should not force EWTN to provide them as part of our employer-sponsored health plan. We are grateful for the prayers and support of the EWTN Family over the course of this litigation, as well as all those who have written in support of our lawsuit and in support of religious liberty. We ask for continued prayers as we consider our response to the Court’s decision.”


EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 35th year, is the largest religious media network in the world. EWTN’s 11 networks broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 264 million television households in more than 145 countries and territories. EWTN services include direct broadcast satellite television and radio; AM & FM radio networks transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 500 domestic and international radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; the largest Catholic website in the U.S.; electronic and print news services, including “The National Catholic Register” newspaper, and two global wire services; as well as a publishing arm.

EWTN Press Release: EWTN Files New Law Suit

EWTN Files New Suit
Against Contraception Mandate

State of Alabama Joins as Co-Plaintiff

Irondale, AL – EWTN Global Catholic Network filed a new lawsuit October 28 in Federal Court against the Department of Health & Human Services, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and other federal agencies seeking to stop the government from imposing the HHS contraception mandate as well as asking the court to find that it is unconstitutional. The State of Alabama, through its Attorney General Luther Strange, has joined EWTN as a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit.

“EWTN has no other option but to continue our legal challenge to the mandate,” said EWTN Chairman and CEO Michael P. Warsaw. “The revised rules, published by the government in July, have done nothing to address the serious issues of conscience and religious freedom that EWTN has been raising since the mandate was first published last year.

 The government has decided that EWTN is apparently not religious enough to be exempt from the rule. It has still placed us in a situation where we are forced to offer contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs as part of our employee health plan or to offer our employees and their families no insurance at all. Neither of these options is acceptable. The mission of EWTN is not negotiable.”

EWTN’s original lawsuit opposing the mandate was filed Feb. 9, 2012, but was dismissed by Federal Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn on March 25, 2013. In her order dismissing the original suit, Judge Blackburn noted that the government had promised to implement a new rule addressing the issues raised by EWTN. Blackburn’s opinion stated that “common sense weighs in favor of withholding judicial review until new regulations are created and finalized. At that point, if EWTN still has objections, it may then file suit.”

The Department of Health and Human Services issued a new set of rules on July 23, 2013 which Secretary Sebelius claimed addressed the concerns of EWTN and other similar organizations.

“When the government opened up a period for public comment earlier this year in advance of publishing its revised rules, EWTN submitted extensive remarks and an explanation of its moral objections to the mandate,” Warsaw continued. “We sincerely hoped that our concerns would be addressed. Instead, the government ignored our comments entirely and pressed forward with a rule that changed nothing. We are in the same position today as we were when the mandate was first published.

“As an organization that was founded to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church, we do not believe that contraception, voluntary sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs constitute health care.  We simply cannot facilitate these immoral practices,” said Warsaw.

“Version 2.0 of the mandate is just as bad as version 1.0,” said Lori Windham, Senior Counsel at the Becket Fund, which filed both the original and new lawsuits on EWTN’s behalf. “It would still force the world’s preeminent Catholic network to betray publicly the very teachings it was founded to promote, and which it promotes on a daily basis.”

 

In 2012, shortly after the first EWTN lawsuit was filed, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange petitioned the court to join the EWTN complaint. In this new lawsuit, the State of Alabama has joined EWTN as a co-plaintiff from the start.

Commenting on this new lawsuit, Attorney General Strange said, “I am proud to stand with EWTN to oppose this unconscionable mandate. …
The freedom of religion, and to believe as one sees fit, is our ‘first freedom’ under the United States Constitution. The people of Alabama have recognized the importance of this freedom and have enshrined it in their Constitution as well. Alabama law does not allow anyone to be forced to offer a product that is against his or her religious beliefs or conscience.”

“EWTN is extremely grateful to Attorney General Strange for his support on this important issue. The Attorney General clearly understands what is at stake here, not just for EWTN, but for all people who feel that government cannot take away the right to religious freedom,” said Warsaw.

EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 32nd year, is available in over 230 million television households in more than 140 countries and territories. With its direct broadcast satellite television and radio services, AM & FM radio networks, worldwide short-wave radio station, Internet website www.ewtn.com, electronic and print news services, and publishing arm, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions. The Becket Fund has a 17-year history of defending religious liberty for people of all faiths. Its attorneys are recognized as experts in the field of church-state law, and they recently won a 9-0 victory against the federal government at the U.S. Supreme Court in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC.

EWTN Press Release: EWTN Lawsuit Dismissed...

EWTN Lawsuit Against HHS Mandate is Dismissed

Network Will Continue to Oppose Unjust Rules

Irondale, AL – Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn of the U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Ala. issued an order March 25 dismissing EWTN’s lawsuit challenging the government mandate that employee healthcare plans must provide coverage for contraception, voluntary sterilization procedures and abortion-inducing drugs. 

 

Judge Blackburn’s order found that the “real prospect of harm from a concrete regulatory mandate” gives the Network adequate legal standing to file the lawsuit.  However, because the government has promised to yet further amend the mandate’s rules, Judge Blackburn’s opinion held that the moving target of the mandate was not yet “ripe” for review.  The promise of future revisions to the mandate thereby makes the court reluctant to rule today. Blackburn’s opinion concludes that “in this case, common sense weighs in favor of withholding judicial review until the new regulations are created and finalized.  At that point, if EWTN still has objections, it may then file suit.”

 

“While we are extremely disappointed that Judge Blackburn did not rule on the constitutional issues that were at the heart of the EWTN lawsuit, we are not surprised by the decision,’ said EWTN President & Chief Executive Officer Michael P. Warsaw. “In every lawsuit filed against the mandate, the government has made promise after promise to amend its unjust rules. As a result, nearly everyone, including the courts, is left waiting to see what the government might or might not do to address the serious issues of conscience that have been raised since the first set of rules were published over a year ago.

 

“EWTN has consistently maintained that contraception, voluntary sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs are not healthcare. EWTN cannot andwill not compromise on our strongly held beliefs on these moral issues,” Warsaw continued. “We are consulting with our legal team at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty about our available options as we go forward.”

 

EWTN filed its lawsuit Feb. 9, 2012 against the Department of Health & Human Services, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and other government agencies seeking to stop the imposition of the contraception mandate as well as asking the court for a declaratory judgment that the mandate is unconstitutional. The Attorney General of the State of Alabama filed a motion to join EWTN March 22, 2012 as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.  Judge Blackburn’s decision essentially dismissed that motion as well.

 

At the time EWTN filed its lawsuit, Warsaw noted that the HHS mandate is particularly hard on Catholics “because Catholic organizations, such as hospitals, schools, social service agencies, media outlets and others, serve people regardless of their religious beliefs.” However, since the filing, EWTN has been heartened by the response of religious groups around the country, as well as those who simply believe in the constitutional principle of religious liberty.

 

Said Warsaw: “We are grateful for the prayers and support of the EWTN Family over the past year – as well as all those who have written in support of our lawsuit and in support of religious liberty – and we ask for continued prayers as we consider our response to the court’s decision.”

 

EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 32^nd year, is available in over 225 million television households in more than 140 countries and territories. With its direct broadcast satellite television and radio services, AM & FM radio networks, worldwide short-wave radio station, Internet website www.ewtn.com, electronic and print news services, and publishing arm, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world.