DeOtte v. State of Nevada (U.S.C.A. 5th Circuit, 2019)

At issue before the Fifth Circuit is a lower court order invoking the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to block enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate as applied to two broad groups of people who have religious objections to the mandate based on the government, insurance companies and other individuals providing or procuring contraception under the law. ADL joined a brief opposing the order. It asserts that religious exemptions such as the order which harm third parties violate the Establishment Clause to the First Amendment. Furthermore, while the mandate may be religiously offensive to the two groups, it does not violate RFRA because they are objecting to the actions of others as opposed to conduct required of them by the mandate.