Content area
Abstract
The issue under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148, that was raised in several cases in several Circuit Courts, was, whether religious institutions other than churches should be exempt from the contraceptive mandate, a regulation adopted by the US Department of Health and Human Services under the Affordable Care Act that requires nonchurch employers to cover certain contraceptives for their female employees. [See, e.g., Madison County v. Oneida Indian Nation of N.Y, 562 U.S. 42, 43, 131 S. Ct. 704, 178 L. Ed. 2d 587 (2011) (per curiam) (vacating and remanding for the Second Circuit to "address, in the first instance, whether to revisit its ruling on sovereign immunity in light of [a] new factual development, and-if necessary-proceed to address other questions in the case consistent with its sovereign immunity ruling"); Kiyemba v. Obama, 559 U.S. 131, 132, 130 S. Ct. 1235, 175 L. Ed 2d 1070 (2010) (per curiam) (vacating and remanding for the DC Circuit to "determine, in the first instance, what further proceedings in that court or in the District Court are necessary and appropriate for the full and prompt disposition of the case in light of the new developments") Villarreal v. United States, 572 U.S. _.