The Supreme Court declined to make a ruling on a major challenge to Affordable Care Act (ACA) rules on birth control.
Justices on Monday ordered the parties in Zubik v. Burwell to try to hash out their differences in the appeals court circuit. The short-handed SCOTUS had agreed to start proceedings in the case before the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.
The plaintiffs, non-profits backed by the Christian fundamentalist right, had argued it should be illegal to make them even apply for an exemption to provide contraception under the ACA.
The Justices’ ruling on Monday was “per curiam,” or unanimous. They wrote that the government and those challenging it should work out an agreement “that accommodates petitioners’ religious exercise while at the same time ensuring that women covered by petitioners’ health plans ‘receive full and equal health coverage, including contraceptive coverage.’”
In 2014, SCOTUS ruled 5-4 in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby that for-profit companies couldn’t be forced to offer birth control in ACA-compliant healthcare plans, citing religious objections.
A split ruling by the court would have led to different applications of the ACA in different parts of the country. In the event of a tie on the Supreme Court, rulings by federal appellate courts take precedent.
The ninth seat on the Supreme Court remains vacant because Senate Republicans still refuse to grant a hearing to President Obama’s nomination to replace Scalia, Merrick Garland.
Since Scalia’s death, conservatives have said the Senate Judiciary Committee shouldn’t start to consider the next top Justice until after the November election. Last week, committee chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said that Donald Trump’s securing of the Republican Presidential nomination won’t change that approach.
While Republicans’ obstructionism might be constitutionally-sound, it doesn’t appear to be well-received by voters. Recent polls show voters prefer Garland to a Republican alternative and want nomination hearings to proceed by about a 60-40 margin.
