By Adam Liptak | The New York Times
In temporarily blocking enforcement of the part of President Obama’s health care law that requires many employers to provide health insurance coverage for birth control or face penalties, Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday opened a second front in Supreme Court challenges to the provision.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a temporary injunction barring the Obama administration from enforcing the birth control requirement against an order of Colorado nuns.
The initial front opened in November, when the justices agreed to hear a pair of cases from for-profit companies challenging that provision. Now Justice Sotomayor has ordered the Obama administration to file a brief by Friday morning responding to a different kind of challenge, this one from groups affiliated with religious organizations.
In the meantime, she issued a temporary injunction barring the administration from enforcing the birth control requirement against an order of Colorado nuns, the Little Sisters of the Poor, and related groups.
After the brief is filed, Justice Sotomayor or the full court could extend or dissolve Tuesday’s temporary injunction while litigation moves forward in the lower courts. It is also possible that the Supreme Court would agree to hear the case immediately.
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