The appeal pits health secretary Xavier Becerra against the Sisters of Mercy and the Catholic Benefits Association, marking the second time Becerra has been involved in legal action against nuns.
“This is bad for patients, doctors, and religious liberty,” Becket senior counsel Luke Goodrich said of the appeal on Tuesday.
Neither the Department of Health and Human Services nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Becerra have all stood against the Little Sisters of the Poor in their battle with the Supreme Court over an Obama-era mandate forcing employers to pay for contraceptives for their employees.
In 2017, Becerra filed a lawsuit against former President Donald Trump’s administration arguing that religious organizations like the Little Sisters of the Poor should not receive exemptions from the order because of their beliefs.
Do you think doctors should be forced to perform trans surgeries?
Yes: 9% (2 Votes)
No: 91% (21 Votes)
The lawsuit is currently under consideration by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
As the attorney general of California, Harris filed a 2014 amicus brief pushing the Supreme Court to strike down a lower court’s ruling that Hobby Lobby should not be required to provide contraception to its employees.
“A woman’s access to essential services, including contraception, should not be restricted because of the religious views of her employer — particularly when the right to these services is protected under federal law,” Harris said in a statement at the time.
When the Supreme Court upheld conscience exemptions from Obama’s birth control mandate in July 2020, Harris called the ruling “shameful.”
Biden also condemned the ruling, calling it “disappointing,” and promised to renew legal action against the Little Sisters of the Poor should he win the presidential election.
