The University of Notre Dame Sues to Stop HHS Mandate
271. The Free Exercise Clause and Establishment Clause
protect the freedom of religious organizations to decide for themselves, free from
state interference, matters of church government as well as those of faith and doctrine.
272. Under these Clauses, the Government may not interfere
with a religious organization’s internal decisions concerning the
organization’s religious structure, ministers, or doctrine.
273. Under these Clauses, the Government may not interfere with a religious organization’s internal decision if that interference would affect the faith and mission of the organization itself.
273. Under these Clauses, the Government may not interfere with a religious organization’s internal decision if that interference would affect the faith and mission of the organization itself.
274. Notre Dame is a religious organization under the general control and direction of the Roman Catholic Church.
275. The Catholic Church views abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception as intrinsically immoral, and prohibits Catholic organizations from condoning or facilitating those practices.
276. Notre Dame has abided and must continue to abide by the decision of the Catholic Church on these issues.
277. The Government may not interfere with, or otherwise question the final decision of the Catholic Church that its religious organizations must abide by these views.
278. The Government may not interfere with the Catholic Church’s affiliated religious organizations, including Notre Dame, with regard to their religious beliefs on abortifacients, sterilization, and contraception.
279. In accordance with this Catholic doctrine, Notre Dame has made the internal decision that its employee and student health plans may not cover, subsidize, or facilitate abortifacients, sterilization, or contraception.
280. The U.S. Government Mandate interferes with Notre Dame’s internal decisions concerning its structure and mission by requiring it to either facilitate practices that directly conflict with Catholic tenets or face substantial penalties.
281. As a University with a publicly stated goal to ensure that its Catholic character informs all its endeavors, Notre Dame is an integral part of the Catholic Church.
282. The U.S. Government Mandate and its religious employer exemption interfere with the organizational structure of Notre Dame as part of the Church by requiring Notre Dame to include or facilitate coverage for practices that directly conflict with its Catholic tenets but purporting to exempt the Church.
283. Because the U.S. Government Mandate interferes with the internal decisionmaking and organizational structure of Notre Dame in a manner that affects its faith and mission, the U.S. Government Mandate violates the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
284. The Government is also requiring student health plans, including the one currently offered by Notre Dame, to include abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization, and contraception, and related education and counseling.
285. Defendants have again violated the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by requiring Notre Dame’s student health plan to include services that violate its religious beliefs, and thereby interfering with the internal decisionmaking and organizational structure of Notre Dame in a manner that affects its faith and mission.
