On February 1, 2012, Criswell College, a nonprofit evangelical Protestant college located in Dallas, filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas against the Federal Government under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (42 U.S.C. § 2000bb), the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. § 706(2)), the First Amendment, and the Fifth Amendment. Plaintiffs, represented by private counsel, sought to enjoin enforcement of provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) extending universal contraception coverage in employer-sponsored private health insurance coverage. Plaintiffs contend that this mandatory contraception coverage violates their sincerely held religious beliefs.

On January 7, 2012, defendant filed a motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction. On April 9, 2013, the Court granted the defendant's motion to dismiss. The court noted that the government had begun amending the regulations to provide further accommodations for religious employers by publishing an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) in the Federal Register in March 2012. 77 Fed. Reg. 16,501 (Mar. 21, 2012). The ANPRM sought to develop "alternative ways of providing contraceptive coverage without cost sharing in order to accommodate non-exempt, non-profit religious organizations with religious objections to such coverage." And because the government was in the process of addressing the concerns that the college had expressed, the Court concluded that the case is not ripe for judicial consideration. The court dismissed plaintiffs' case without prejudice.

Wyatt Fore - 03/18/2012
Mallory Jones - 02/18/2014
Richard Jolly - 10/22/2014


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