Another Catholic School Challenge to Women's Health Regs Dismissed

Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle (D.D.C.) dismissed Wheaton College's case against Secretary Sebelius over federal regs under the ACA that require covered employers to provide women with certain forms of preventive care, including all FDA-approved forms of contraception, without cost sharing.

The case is the second in as many months dismissed for lack of standing and ripeness in the D.C. District.  We posted on the earlier case, Belmont Abbey College v. Sebelius, here.  This case, by a different judge, now makes it even less likely that any of these suits will succeed.

(There are two other district court rulings.  In one, State of Nebraska ex rel. Bruning v. Sebelius, Judge Warren Urbom (D. Ne.) dismissed claims by religious organizations, individuals, and the state itself for lack of standing--the same ruling as in Belmont Abbey and Wheaton College, but also including individual and state plaintiffs.  In another, Newland v. Sebelius, Judge John Kane (D. Co.) granted a preliminary injunction to a private corporation, not a religious organization covered under the safe harbor.  Newland is different than the other cases, because it was brought by a private corporation with no protection under the safe harbor.)

The most recent case, Wheaton College v. Sebelius, involved the same and very similar issues as those in Belmont Abbey--that is, whether the government's "safe harbor" and commitment to reconsider its regs left the plaintiff without standing and the case without ripeness.  Like Judge Boasberg in Belmont Abbey, Judge Huvelle said yes on both counts.

Judge Huvelle rejected Wheaton College's argument that it might be subject to litigation as too speculative.  She also rejected Wheaton College's argument that it might be subject to a new government position at any time--just as the D.C. Circuit ruled in Chamber of Commerce v. FEC that the Chamber of Commerce might have been subject to an FEC enforcement proceeding at any time, even with an FEC evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.  Judge Huvelle wrote that Chamber of Commerce was different, because here the government's commitment not to act against employers that qualify for the safe harbor (including Wheaton College) "was the product of sustained agency and public deliberation, and it represents a final decision, that has been reiterated twice."  Op. at 11.

SDS