Judges allow suits to go forward against HHS exemption that protects their right of religious conscience
By Dave Andrusko

Well, nobody said it would be easy. When last we reported on the Little Sisters of the Poor, they had apparently finally won a five-year long battle against an Obama-era mandate that required them to provide services that violate their religious conscience, a battle that had gone all the way to the Supreme Court.
“Following the 2016 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court and an Executive Order, HHS issued a new rule that finally protects the Little Sisters and other religious non-profits,” according to the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty. In State of California v. HHS and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Trump, the order of Catholic Nuns asked two separate federal courts to protect that hard-won liberty against challenges from by two state attorneys general.
On Sunday and then again on Monday, the courts ruled otherwise.
“The Pennsylvania court [U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone] ruled that Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro can continue his challenge to the HHS religious exemption,” Beckett explained. “This follows California’s ruling [made by Judge Haywood Gilliam] which allows Attorney General Xavier Becerra to continue his challenge to the HHS religious exemption, threatening the Little Sisters’ ministry of caring for the elderly poor.”
The impact of Judge Gilliam holding was to block the HHS exemption in 13 states and the District of Columbia, which was to take effect on Monday. Judge Beetlestone’s ruling applies to the entire country. Both judges were chosen by pro-abortion President Barack Obama.
In defending the Little Sisters of the Poor from the California and Pennsylvania-led lawsuits, Beckett attorneys argued the government was simply obeying federal civil rights laws by providing the religious exemption.
“We never wanted this fight, and we regret that after a long legal battle it is still not over,” said Mother Loraine Marie Maguire of the Little Sisters of the Poor. “We pray that we can once again devote our lives to our ministry of serving the elderly poor as we have for over 175 years without being forced to violate our faith.”
