A federal D.C. district circuit court ruled late Tuesday, just a few days after arguments, that not only can Wheaton College and Belmont Abbey stay in court, but what the Obama administration has said about fixing the religious-freedom problem they and other religiously affiliated non-profits have with the HHS abortion-drug, contraception, sterilization mandate must become real policy, and that the Department of Health and Human Services must report to the D.C. court every 60 days until they fix the problem.
This is a huge step toward some restoration of religious liberty as we’ve known it. (This particular court command, of course, won’t help the likes of Hobby Lobby. But that’s another case … those are other cases … that are also about protecting religious freedom — our fundamental, first, God-given freedom — in the United States.)
Congratulations to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and for those, like Wheaton’s president Philip Ryken, who have been willing to fight this restrictive, coercive policy.
More on the procedural victory here.