Supreme Court Revives Notre Dame's Appeal In Contraception Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has vacated an appeals court ruling that went against the University of Notre Dame, in a case that revolves around the Affordable Care Act's requirement that employers should pay for contraception as part of women's health insurance.

Last February, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago backed a lower court's ruling that dismissed Notre Dame's request for an injunction against the rule.

But on Monday, the Supreme Court said it's sending the case back to the 7th Circuit, "for further consideration in light of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc." — last summer's Supreme Court ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby.

The Roman Catholic school had sued the Obama administration over the requirement, saying a compromise that was meant to put insurance companies instead of religious institutions in charge of contraception coverage was not acceptable.

Last June's Supreme Court decision established that some privately held companies "can opt out of the Affordable Care Act's provisions for no-cost prescription contraception in most health insurance if they have religious objections," as we reported.

"The university has argued the Affordable Care Act's compromise arrangement... is inadequate," The Wall Street Journal reported last year, "because it still forces the university to be complicit in something it believes to be immoral."