The Becket Fund FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Becket Fund’s HHS Mandate Challenge

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty led the charge to legally challenge the Administration’s mandate. Visit Becket Fund’s HHS Information Central with all cases, maps, timeline, and resources.

This HHS mandate requires religious institutions to either violate  their deeply held religious beliefs or pay massive IRS penalties. The mandate was issued in August 2011, and the Becket Fund quickly raised the alarm by suing on behalf of both Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic liberal arts college founded by Benedictine monks, and Colorado Christian University, an evangelical college located outside of Denver.

The Becket Fund represents Eternal Word Television Network.

On February 9, 2012, the Becket Fund filed on behalf of the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), a Catholic global TV network founded 30 years ago by a cloistered nun named Mother Angelica.

On February 21, 2012, the Becket Fund filed on behalf of the Ave Maria University, a school dedicated to living the teachings of the Catholic church.

On March 22, 2012, the state of Alabama joined the Becket Fund’s lawsuit on behalf of EWTN, defending their citizens’ rights from offer products against their religious beliefs.

On July 18, 2012, Wheaton College, the leading evangelical liberal arts institution, filed a lawsuit in partnership with Catholic University of America, marking the first-ever partnership between Catholic and evangelical institutions to oppose the same regulation in the same court.

The Becket Fund represents the Green family of Hobby Lobby.

On September 12, 2012, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.,  a privately held retail chain with more than 500 arts and crafts stores in 41 states, filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, opposing the Health and Human Services “preventive services” mandate, which forces the Christian-owned-and-operated business to provide, without co-pay, the “morning after pill” and “week after pill” in their health insurance plan, or faces to the IRS.

On October 9, 2012, East Texas Baptist University and Houston Baptist University, filed suit, echoing plea of first Baptist leader, Roger Williams, Universities demand religious freedom.

On September 24, 2013, the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic congregation of nuns who cannot comply with the government’s
mandate, filed the first class-action lawsuit to uphold their rights to carry out their vows of obedience in their service to the elderly poor.

The Becket Fund represents the Little Sisters of the Poor.

On October 11, 2013, three religious ministry groups — Reaching Souls International, Truett-McConnell College, and Guidestone Financial Resources — that do not qualify for the “religious employer” exemption filed a class-action lawsuit defending their right to carry out their Christian mission.

On June 30, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a landmark victory for religious liberty, ruling 5-4 in favor of David and Barbara Green and their family business, Hobby Lobby.

On August 27, 2014, the administration issued its new rule, which was its 8th retreat from its original stance that only “house[s] of worship” receive religious liberty protection.

Stay tuned here for up-to-date coverage of these lawsuits.

For more information, or to arrange an interview with a Becket Fund attorney, please contact Melinda Skea, Communications Director, at mskea@becketfund.org or call 202.349.7224.