I've been following the coverage of the mandate that religious organizations provide free contraception through their insurance plans, regardless of whether or not it forces them to violate the tenets of their faith. Today's announcement of an accomodation notwithstanding, ,though, I'm wondering what the chances are that the courts would rule against the administration if the lawsuits that have been filed go to trial.
It's my understanding that, in Employment Division v Smith, the Court clearly said that a neutral law of general applicability isn't going to violate the Free Exercise Clause. From what I've read, the regulation in question appears to be both neutral and of general applicability. A strict adherence to Smith would seem to weigh against the religious freedom claims, which is the danger many have seen in Smith since the ruling first came out. What is the sense here whether the Courts would adhere to Smith and uphold the mandate, or would the Courts see it as an opportunity to revisit Smith? I don't remember that there was the same national controversy over Smith when it came out, but it seemed to me that, outside of legal and Native American circles, most folks didn't worry about it because they didn't see it as a ruling beyond peyote. The contraceptive mandate has certainly gotten the attention of a much larger segment of society, though. I wonder if the Court would see a case like this as an opportunity to restore what was lost in Smith. Brad Pardee
_______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.