The justices heard arguments in two cases, one on contraceptive coverage and another on robocalls. Both were conducted by phone because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Supreme Court justices seemed concerned Wednesday about the scope of Trump administration rules that would allow more employers who cite a religious or moral objection to opt out of providing no-cost birth control to women, as required by the Affordable Care Act.
The justices were hearing their third day of arguments conducted by phone because of the coronavirus pandemic. The first of two cases before them Wednesday stemmed from the Obama-era health care law, which requires most employers to cover birth control as a preventive service, at no charge to women, in their insurance plans.
In 2017, the Trump administration announced it would broaden an exemption to the contraceptive coverage requirement that previously applied to houses of worship, such as churches, synagogues and mosques. But the administration’s change was blocked by courts.
The Supreme Court’s four liberal justices seemed troubled by the changes, which the government has estimated would cause about 70,000 women — and at most 126,000 women — to lose contraception coverage in one year.
Chief Justice John Roberts, a key vote on a court split between conservatives and liberals, suggested that the Trump administration’s reliance on a federal religious freedom law to expand the exemption was „too broad.“
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who joined the conversation from a Maryland hospital where she was being treated for an infection caused by a gallstone, commented to the government’s top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General Noel Franciso, „You have just tossed entirely to the wind what Congress thought was essential, that is that women be provided these….
