Supremes Let Little Sisters Have Their Way During Appeal; AP Ridiculously Calls That Result a 'Compromise'

On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a one-paragraph order in Little Sisters of the Poor et al v. Sebeluis et al. It told the Sisters that for the case to continue with no enforcement of the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate, they need only to inform the government in writing "that they are non-profit organizations that hold themselves out as religious and have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services." That's easy, because that's what they are, and that's their position.

As a result, the government has been "enjoined from enforcing against the applicants the challenged provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and related regulations pending final disposition." In other words, the Sisters will get their way until the case is decided. After the jump, I'll present a bit of the sane coverage by the Washington Post's Robert Barnes, followed by portions of the reality-avoiding writeup of Jesse Holland found at the Associated Press.

First, from WaPo's Barnes (bolds are mine throughout this post):

Supreme Court says nuns are exempt for now from Obamacare contraceptives rule








... Groups supporting contraceptive coverage played down the importance of the court’s order.

What really happened appears to have put the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, into a bind. The wire service provides the copy, usually published without substantive alteration execpt for editing for space, for what its thousands of subscribing outlets will put into print and post on the web tonight. Additionally, it provides scripts adapted from its reports for use in broadcast news which are typically read verbatim.

Apparently, accurately telling the nation what really happened, i.e., that the Little Sisters got their way, at least temporarily, would harm the Obama administration's cause. So the AP's Jesse Holland avoided calling the Court's order an "order" until his ninth paragraph, and ridiculously framed the entire matter as a "compromise":






Their nuns' lawyer, Mark Rienzi of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said they were delighted to hear about the court's decision. "It made no sense for the Little Sisters to be singled out for fines and punishment before they could even finish their suit," he said.




The high court exempted them from the government form requirements, saying the nuns only have to inform HHS in "writing."

Holland, who proudly tells the world at his Twitter page that he is "a husband and a dad," must know that "signing that form" does make the Sisters "complicit in providing contraceptive coverage." But on the off-chance that he doesn't, I'll provide an analogy.


But what if the friend who is administering the beating presents your child with a form to sign saying, "I object to what you're doing and really wish you would stop." Would you really be satisfied and say that your child did all they could do in the circumstances to prevent serious harm if he or she were to simply sign the form and walk away?

Gosh, I hope not, Jesse.

The Little Sisters are being compelled to do what I would hope Jesse Holland would not want his child to do. In the court case, the Sisters are supposed to condone the provision of abortifacient drugs and medical devices after signing a "We don't like it" form. They have no moral choice but to resist.

Cross-posted at

Tom Blumer
Tom Blumer
Tom Blumer is a contributing editor for NewsBusters.