October 22, 2018

CUA Law Professor Mark Rienzi is mentioned in an article regarding the United States Courts for the Ninth Circuit's hearing State of California v. Little Sisters of the Poor from Bloomberg Law on October 19, 2018.

Prior to the actual hearing in San Francisco, California, the argument was mooted at CUA Law.

Birth Control Coverage Court Battle Focuses on States' Harm

From: Bloomberg Law
By: Mary Anne Pazanowski
Date: October 19, 2018

. . .

About 1.5 million women in California, Delaware, Virginia, New York, and Maryland stand to lose cost-free access to the product if the interim final rules take effect, Karli A. Eisenberg, of the California Attorney General's Office, told the court.

The rules were issued as "interim final rules," which means they were intended to take effect immediately, without being subject to the government's normal "notice and comment" process for new regulations. Final regulations were sent to the Office of Management and Budget earlier in October.

The interim final rules protect religious groups' First Amendment rights, Mark Rienzi of Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, told the judges. Many courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, repeatedly have told the federal government it can't force a group of nuns to do something they think is wrong.

Rienzi is representing the Little Sisters of the Poor. The trial court allowed the group to help the federal government defend the rules.

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