Yesterday CNS News reported that the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that both the owners of a company and their company have religious liberty rights that are burdened by the HHS mandate.
The article reports:
We hold that the plaintiffs–the business owners and their companies — may challenge the mandate. We further hold that compelling them to cover these services substantially burdens their religious-exercise rights.
Under RFRA the government must justify the burden under the standard of strict scutiny. So far it has not done so, and we doubt that it can.
Because the RFRA claims are very likely to succeed and the balance of harms favors protecting the religious-liberty rights of the plaintiffs, we reverse and remand with instructions to enter preliminary injunctions barring enforcement of the mandate against them.
This decision is good news for those attempting to preserve religious freedom in America.