WITHOUT SCALIA, HIGH COURT STYMIED
Contraceptive cases sent to appeals level to find compromise
The Supreme Court decided not to decide Monday whether religious objectors must play a role in offering contraceptive coverage to their employees, sending seven cases back to federal appeals courts in search of an elusive compromise.
The unanimous ruling was another example of the eight-member court’s inability to settle cases after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death and the impasse between President Obama and Senate Republicans over his replacement.
By sending disputes over the Affordable Care Act’s “contraceptive mandate” back to lower courts, the justices all but assured that the issue won’t get resolved before a new president is elected, which could portend even greater changes for Obamacare.
“My suspicion is that if we had nine Supreme Court justices instead of eight, there might have been a different outcome,” Obama told the website BuzzFeed in a live-streamed interview.
Already this year, the high court has deadlocked 4-4 in three cases, including a major labor rights case, and has greatly reduced the number of new cases it is accepting for next term. On Monday, it also sent a major class action case back to a federal appeals court for further action.
The justices are hoping to find a way to honor the objections of religious non-profit groups, such as charities and hospitals, while still guaranteeing free birth control to their employees.
The battle over Obamacare’s contraceptive coverage was one of the high court’s biggest issues this term. In 2014, the court ruled 5-4 that for-profit corporations whose owners objected to the rule could have insurance plans deliver the health benefit directly.