On December 3, 2013, a non-profit organization filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado under the First Amendment, Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Administrative Procedure Act against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The plaintiff, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, asked the court to rule that the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) contraception insurance mandate, even with the accommodation for non-profit religious organizations, is unconstitutional. Specifically, the plaintiff asked for both a preliminary and permanent injunction keeping the government from enforcing the contraception insurance mandate against the organization.

On January 15, 2014, the plaintiff filed a motion for partial summary judgment. On February 17, 2014, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss, or, in the alternative, for summary judgment on the grounds that the accommodation to the ACA mandate does not substantially burden the plaintiffs' religious freedom under RFRA or cause the plaintiffs irreparable harm.

On March 11, 2014, the plaintiff filed a motion for preliminary injunction. The court granted the motion for preliminary injunction on April 23, 2014 consistent with the 10th Circuit's ruling in Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius, 723 F.3d 1114 (10th Cir. 2013). On September 30, 2014, following the Supreme Court's ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, the district court denied defendants' motion to dismiss as moot, and additionally denied defendants' motion for summary judgment without prejudice. The court also ordered plaintiffs to file a second amended complaint.

Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint on October 22, 2014, and filed a motion for summary judgment on December 1, 2014. The plaintiff stipulated to the dismissal of the case with prejudice on June 11, 2015, and the court terminated the case on June 12, 2015.

Mallory Jones - 03/15/2014
Elizabeth Heise - 11/13/2018


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