No. 19-431October Term 2019Decided Jul 8, 2020
Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania
This case was about the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employer health plans cover contraception and whether the federal government could create broad exemptions for employers with religious or moral objections.
Case status
- Current stage
- Decided
- Latest event
- Decision released Jul 8, 2020
- What it's about
This case was about the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employer health plans cover contraception and whether the federal government could create broad exemptions for employers with religious or moral objections. It also asked whether the Little Sisters of the Poor could continue the appeal to defend those exemptions after lower courts blocked them.
Question presented
1. Whether a litigant who is directly protected by an administrative rule and has been allowed to intervene to defend it lacks standing to appeal a decision invalidating the rule if the litigant is also protected by an injunction from a different court? 2. Whether the federal government lawfully exempted religious objectors from the regulatory requirement to provide health plans that include contraceptive coverage?
- Case path
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit / Decision released Jul 8, 2020
- Area
Decided Supreme Court case
Timing
Decided July 8, 2020
The Court released its decision on July 8, 2020 without hearing oral argument.
Related cases
Grounding
- Grounding
- Primary-source trail available.
- Note
- Plain-English explainer. Official filings and opinions remain authoritative.
- Checked
- Jul 25, 2026
- Method
- Methodology