The HHS Mandate in the Courts of Appeals by Circuit

The earliest cases against the Mandate were filed by religious non-profits, such as Wheaton College and Belmont Abbey College.  But the government adopted a litigation strategy to move the challenges by religious business owners and their family-held corporations to a faster litigation track.  The government achieved this by promising, for nearly 18 months, an “accommodation” through new federal rulemaking that would purportedly allow religious non-profits to opt-out of the required contraceptives coverage, while insurers would be compelled to provide contraceptives coverage for their employees without cost-sharing.  

Most courts, therefore, either stayed or dismissed on ripeness grounds the numerous non-profit cases.  Once the “accommodation” was in place in July 2013, most of the religious non-profits filed new lawsuits in the district courts.  The for-profit cases, however, remained on the faster track to the Supreme Court, as the government had wanted.  The first two cases that the Supreme Court will hear on March 25 will be cases involving three family-held businesses and their religious owners.

As of March 2014, in 18 of the non-profit cases, a court has issued an injunction against enforcement of the Mandate. A court has denied preliminary injunctive relief in only two cases.  In 33 of the for-profit cases, injunctive relief has been granted, while preliminary injunctions have been denied in only 6 for-profit cases.