Court demands contraception mandate exemptions

WASHINGTON — Foes of the federal contraception mandate are cheering a Dec. 18 appeals court decision requiring the Obama administration to devise exemptions to the new rule for two Christian colleges.

The two colleges, Catholic Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina and evangelical Wheaton College in Illinois, filed suit against the Obama administration before the new rule went into effect Aug. 1, and argued that the mandate is a violation of the schools’ religious freedom.

Opponents of the mandate may not like the exemption that the administration eventually crafts, but the December ruling is still heartening, said Richard Garnett, a law and political science professor at the University of Notre Dame.

“It’s holding the administration’s feet to the fire a little more,” Garnett said. “The court said to the administration, ‘Fine, you’re working on writing an exemption, but we’re still going to keep the cases alive.’”