Tag Archives: ZZ: Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius

Matthew Bowman of the Alliance Defending Freedom, Kyle Duncan of the Becket Fund appeared on the World Over Live with Raymond Arroyo (audio archive) | MP3 audio 22:03 mins

Ecumenical News: Matt Bowman, an attorney for the Alliance Defending Freedom (AFD), said in BP, “The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer. “For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is outrageous, and now the Obama administration has had to retreat in court.”

National Religious Broadcasters Email (links to Alliance Defending Freedom press release): At the government’s own request, a federal appellate court has dismissed the Obama administration’s appeal of an order that stopped the President from enforcing his abortion pill mandate against Tyndale House Publishers.

Matt Bowman on the Vince Coakley Show to discuss: Obama admin. surrenders in abortion pill mandate case. | MP3 audio 14:01 mins

Pilot Catholic News: “We believe the government essentially conceded that its anti-religious legal position cannot succeed in court under scrutiny,” said Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Tyndale in court. [more]

Kevin Theriot on the George Rice Show to discuss this: Obama admin. surrenders in abortion pill mandate case. | MP3 audio 8 mins

The New American: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” said Bowman. “The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer. For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is outrageous, and now the Obama administration has had to retreat in court.”

Ed Whelan at NRO: The Obama administration’s argument can’t withstand scrutiny. For starters, RFRA itself makes no distinction between “for-profit, secular companies” and “non-profit, religious organizations.”

CNA at DFW Catholic: Matthew Bowman, senior legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, which is defending the publisher, told CNA that the move indicates “that the government knows it is taking an extremist view against religious freedom, and it is afraid to defend that in court.”

Bob Smietana of The Tennessean at the ShrevePort Times: The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer,” said Matt Bowman, senior legal council for Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group that represents Tyndale.

Warren Richey of Christian Science Monitor at MinnPost: Matt Bowman, lead counsel for Tyndale House, claimed victory on Monday when word of the court’s action circulated. “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” he said in a statement. “The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer.”

Michael Foust of BP on Christian Examiner: The legal group Alliance Defending Freedom says the government’s desire to withdraw its own appeal is a good sign for religious liberty. ADF is representing Tyndale. “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” said ADF senior legal counsel Matt Bowman. “The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer. For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is outrageous, and now the Obama administration has had to retreat in court.”

One News Now: The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds to argue that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer,” says Bowman. “For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is outrageous – and now the Obama administration had to retreat in court.”

Baptist Press on Patheos: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” said ADF senior legal counsel Matt Bowman. “The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer. For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is outrageous, and now the Obama administration has had to retreat in court.”

Christian Post: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” Bowman said. “The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer. For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is outrageous, and now the Obama administration has had to retreat in court.”

Examiner.com: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” said Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer.”

Breitbart: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” Senior Legal Counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom Matt Bowman told LifeSiteNews. “The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer.”

Christian Science Monitor: Matt Bowman, lead counsel for Tyndale House, claimed victory on Monday when word of the court’s action circulated. “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” he said in a statement. “The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer.” Mr. Bowman, a lawyer with the conservative public interest group Alliance Defending Freedom, said the administration’s move was a “retreat” in court. “We will continue to argue that the administration cannot disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom for all family business owners and must offer a comprehensive exemption to the mandate,” he said.

t the government’s own request, a federal appellate court Friday dismissed the Obama administration’s appeal of an order that stopped the president from enforcing his abortion pill mandate against a Bible publisher. The administration’s retreat marks the first total appellate victory on a preliminary injunction in any abortion pill mandate case.

WorldNetDaily: Apparently, ADF said, Obama is nervous “about trying to defend its position that a Bible publisher is not religious enough for a religious exemption to the mandate.” “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” said Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “The government dismissed its appeal because it knows how ridiculous it sounds arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer. For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is outrageous, and now the Obama administration has had to retreat in court. “We will continue to argue that the administration cannot disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom for all family business owners and must offer a comprehensive exemption to the mandate,” Bowman added.

Life News: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and allied attorneys are also litigating nine other lawsuits against the mandate. The lawsuits represent a large cross-section of Protestants and Catholics who object to the mandate. More than 100 lawsuits have been filed in total.The court’s order was the third nationwide against the mandate and the second obtained by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys.

Sarah Torre at Heritage Foundation: As Alliance Defending Freedom wrote in a public comment on Monday on behalf of over 20 Catholic colleges, “No other federal rule has so narrowly and discriminatorily defined what it means to exercise religious conscience, and no regulation has ever so directly violated plain statutory and constitutional religious freedoms. The NPRM does nothing to change that fact.”

Medill Reports Northwestern.edu: Tyndale’s pro bono attorney, Matthew Bowman of Alliance Defending Freedom, believes the for-profit publishing company should be able to advocate on its own behalf. “I think it’s a pattern throughout the Obama administration’s tenure,” he said, “where they are taking large areas of human activity – like healthcare, or education, or business – and saying that because the government wants to control those areas, the government is going to declare that religious freedom does not exist in those areas.” Bowman said he expects the lawsuit to run through the summer, at least. In the meantime, it will be business as usual at Tyndale House. “We’re not going to do anything different than we’ve been doing for many years: continuing to sell Christian-oriented books and Bibles,” Mark Taylor said (includes Tyndale timeline)

ADFMedia has created a resource page listing pending HHS suits by state.

Matt Bowman appeared on Stand Up for the Truth | MP3 audio 16:24 mins

CNSNews: The assertion came in the case of Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius, a challenge to the Obama administration’s regulation requiring health-care plans to cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs . . . “Consistent with the religious beliefs of Tyndale and its owners, Tyndale’s self-insured plan does not and has never covered abortions or abortifacient drugs or devices such as emergency contraception and intrauterine devices,” Tyndale said in its legal complaint, prepared by the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Matt Bowman on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the Sioux Chief Manufacturing suit and others. | MP3 audio 5:23 mins

Christian Post: Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish. Regrettably, the administration does not want religious freedom to stand in the way of imposing ObamaCare,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman commented in an email to The Christian Post.

Christian Post:
“Americans should be free to honor God and abide by their consciences at work, home, and church,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Washington politicians can’t confine our faith to the four walls of our homes and churches alone. Honoring God is important every day, in all areas of life, including in our work. The Obama administration’s attacks on faith and business prove that it doesn’t respect either one.”. . . “It is quite a challenge to keep track of the large and growing number of legal challenges to the HHS contraceptive/abortifacient mandate,” ADF Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor states in the group’s scorecard post on its website. “Religious organizations, for-profit businesses, and individuals have filed over 40 cases, attempting to protect their deeply held religious beliefs and exercise from the unconstitutional dictates of the federal government.”

LifeNews: Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman emailed LifeNews regarding the decision of the Obama administration Tuesday to continue trying to force the Bible publisher to act contrary to its religious beliefs in Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish. Regrettably, the administration does not want religious freedom to stand in the way of imposing ObamaCare. The district court rightly halted ObamaCare’s abortion pill mandate against Tyndale House, but the administration continues to argue that a Bible publisher isn’t religious enough to qualify as a religious employer. For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is startling. We will continue to argue on appeal that the administration cannot disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes.”

Bloomberg: Tyndale argues the law violates the religious freedoms of the company and its owners, “who are committed to biblical principles including the belief that all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God from the moment of their conception.” “It’s disturbing that the government would appeal in order to argue that a Bible publisher is not religious,” Matthew Bowman, a lawyer from Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Tyndale and other businesses challenging the health care law.

Business Week: “It’s disturbing that the government would appeal in order to argue that a Bible publisher is not religious,” Matthew Bowman, a lawyer from Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents Tyndale and other businesses challenging the health care law.

One News Now: Matt Bowman, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, says the government should not force Tyndale House Publishers to violate its Christian beliefs — and that it should be eligible for a religious exemption from providing contraceptives it believes cause abortion. “What [the administration is] doing in this appeal is they are arguing that Bible publishers are not even free to do business according to the book that they publish,” says the attorney. “The administration is arguing that a Bible publisher isn’t even religious enough to qualify as a religious employer.” [more]

“For the government to say that a Bible publisher isn’t religious is startling. We will continue to argue on appeal that the administration cannot disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes.”

Amidst a flurry of activity this month in Alliance Defending Freedom lawsuits against President Obama’s abortion pill mandate, the administration’s record in cases litigated so far stands at 10 losses and only four wins.

Matt Bowman appeared on Relevant Radio with Shiela Liaugminas to discuss the HHS litigation. | MP3 audio 11:41 mins

Tyndale House Publishers: A federal court Friday stopped enforcement of the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate against a Bible publisher represented by attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom . . . The court’s order is the third nationwide against the mandate and the second obtained by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys.

Christian Science Monitor: The dictates of government need not conflict with the demands of faiths. Either the courts or Congress needs to make that a reality before the health-care law takes full effect in 2014.

Matt Bowman on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss the Tyndale House Publishers case. | MP3 audio 9:50 mins

Catholic News Service: Matthew Bowman of Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the Carol Springs, Ill., company, said in a statement that the judge’s ruling was the right one and that Bible publishers “should be free to do business according to the book that they publish.”

Matt Bowman at Washington Examiner: Religious believers have something special to be thankful for this week. Last Friday, the judicial branch put the brakes on an attack against the very religious freedom that was the reason for the first Thanksgiving. That attack, sadly, originates from the White House. The good news is that the Obama administration has lost the first part of a case in which it was attempting to establish that the scope of religion in America is so miniscule that it does not apply to a devoutly religious Bible publishing company.

Ken Klukowski at Breitbart: Can an American citizen exercise his religion through his privately-owned business? The fate of Obamacare’s disturbing HHS contraception mandate turns on that question, and now the federal courts are split on the answer regarding an issue very likely to end up at the U.S. Supreme Court . . . Matt Bowman of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)—the largest religious-liberty legal organization and network in the country—is representing several companies, and has won the first round in two cases so far. These are Newland v. Sebelius in Colorado, and Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius in D.C. In fact, ADF is representing companies in at least seven lawsuits, including two plaintiffs in my home state of Indiana. Thomas More Law Center is representing another early success, representing Weingartz Supply Company in Michigan, while the Becket Fund suffered an early setback representing Hobby Lobby. And yet another—Liberty Institute—is preparing to launch litigation.

Matt Bowman appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the Tyndale House Publishing ruling. | MP3 audio 8:15 mins

Heritage Foundation: Late last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a preliminary injunction temporarily halting enforcement of the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate against Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., as the lawsuit continues. This is the third such injunction issued against the mandate to date and the second to be obtained by the Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of its clients.

Matt Bowman appeared on the Georgene Rice Show to discuss the Tyndale House Publishing ruling. | MP3 audio 9:23 mins

Blaze.tv at the Acton Institute Power Blog: On Nov. 19, Acton Institute President Rev. Robert A. Sirico discussed a recent federal court ruling on the Obama Administration’s HHS Contraception Mandate on TheBlaze.com’s Real News. For more on this story, see the Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius resource page on the website of Alliance Defending Freedom.

Ed Whelan at National Review Bench Memos: The HHS contraceptive mandate suffered another loss last Friday—its third loss in the four decisions that have addressed the merits of the claim that the HHS mandate violates the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). In a thorough opinion in Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius, Judge Reggie B. Walton of the federal district court for the District of Columbia granted a preliminary injunction that bars the federal government from penalizing a publishing house for its religiously based refusal to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives that also operate as abortifacients. I’ll highlight two aspects of Judge Walton’s impressive ruling . . . Congratulations to the Alliance Defending Freedom for its victory.

EWTN: The D.C.-based legal group Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the company and its president and chief executive Mark D. Taylor. “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” the group’s senior legal counsel Matt Bowman said Nov. 16. “The court has done the right thing in halting the mandate while our lawsuit moves forward.”

Acton Institute Power Blog: Tonight at 6:30 EST on TheBlaze TV, Rev. Robert Sirico will discuss that case, along with a wider discussion of religious liberty and opposition to the Obamacare mandate by other businesses and organizations.

Blunt.Senate.Gov: “Religious liberty isn’t about one group or one set of beliefs – it’s about protecting Americans’ First Amendment rights. This decision is a step in the right direction toward stopping the Obama administration from infringing on these fundamental freedoms,” said Blunt.

Religion Clause Blog: . . . Alliance Defending Freedom issued a press release announcing the decision, and the Washington Postreported on the decision.

Matt Bowman at Townhall: So whatever the Obama administration declares is secular is secular, because they said so. The areas of human life where people spend most of their waking hours—education, business, and healthcare—are, by edict, “secular.” And whatever is secular, the government controls. The Obama administration lost that argument unanimously at the Supreme Court in Hosanna-Tabor. Let’s hope they lose it again when the abortion pill mandate cases reach the high court.

Washington Post (AP): Matthew S. Bowman, a lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom, which brought the suit on behalf of Tyndale, said in an email that Bible publishers “should be free to do business according to the book that they publish.” He added: “The Obama administration is not entitled to disregard religious freedom.” The Health and Human Service Department declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.

LifeNews: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” said Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman, who argued before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Nov. 9. Bowman told LifeNews: “The court has done the right thing in halting the mandate while our lawsuit moves forward. For the government to say that a Bible publisher is not religious is startling. It demonstrates how clearly the Obama administration is willing to disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes.”

A federal court Friday stopped enforcement of the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate against a Bible publisher represented by attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom.

Alan Sears at the Alliance Defending Freedom: The occupant of the White House isn’t the only thing that hasn’t changed in the last two weeks. Many friends of Alliance Defending Freedom have expressed grave concern about how our work will continue, in the wake of President Barak Obama’s re-election. Although this ministry is committed to being apolitical, there is no denying that this administration has been the most openly and aggressively hostile in American history to religious freedom, to preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and to the protection of life in the womb.

Alan Sears appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show. | MP3 audio 8:26 mins

One News Now: “The government went so far as to say that even if this were the church itself, it would lose its free exercise of religion claim,” he tells OneNewsNow. “This is a government that says that it can pick and choose what religion is, who can exercise religion and where they can exercise it, and can basically say that nobody can do it except in maybe in the four walls of your church — maybe not even then.”

LifeNews: Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” said Bowman. “For the government to say that a Bible publisher is not religious is alarming. It demonstrates how clearly the Obama administration is willing to disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes. For that reason, we are asking the court to halt this mandate.”

CBN (includes video): For the government to say that a Bible publisher is not religious is alarming,” ADF Attorney Matt Bowman said. “It demonstrates how clearly the Obama administration is willing to disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes.”

One News Now: Bowman adds that in this case, the government is “attempting essentially cut the First Amendment out of the Constitution.” “So that people don’t really have religious freedom anymore because the government has declared that they are all engaged in secular activities,” he continues. “That is something that is incompatible with freedoms that Americans have always possessed, and we’re hopeful that the court system is not going to let the government attack people’s religious freedom and force them to be involved in abortion pills.”

One News Now: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” Bowman contends. “For the government to say that a Bible publisher is not religious is alarming. It demonstrates how clearly the Obama administration is willing to disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes.”

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman will be available for media interviews following his oral argument Friday asking for a court order to stop enforcement of the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate against a Bible publisher.

More information through the Alliance Defending Freedom Media website.

Matt Bowman at Townhall: The president’s agencies have written rules that render evangelistic publishing of the Bible to be, well, not really religious. To the people who drafted the ObamaCare rule, and its defenders, religion is little more than a target of derision and marginalization.

LifeNews: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” said Bowman. “For the government to say that a Bible publisher is not religious is alarming. It demonstrates how clearly the Obama administration is willing to disregard the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom to achieve certain political purposes. For that reason, we are asking the court to halt this mandate.”

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman will be available for media interviews following his oral argument Monday asking for a court order to stop enforcement of the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate against a Bible publisher.

Mark Taylor of Tyndale Publishing and Matt Bowman with Chris Fabry on the Moody Radio Network to discuss the Tyndale House Publishing suit versus the Obamacare mandate. | MP3 audio 37:28 mins

World Magazine audio and report on Oct. 20th, Hour 3, Segment B.

Matt Bowman appeared on the Georgene Rice Show to discuss the Tyndale Publishing litigation. | MP3 audio 9:04 mins

NRB: “Bible publishers should be free to do business according to the book that they publish,” added ADF Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “To say that a Bible publisher is not religious is simply absurd.”

Matt Bowman apppeared on Relevant Radio, A Closer Look with Sheila Liaugminas to discuss the HHS Mandate and the Tyndale Publishing Suit. | MP3 audio 24:05 mins

Matt Bowman appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss the Tyndale Publishing challenge to the Obamacare mandate. | MP3 audio 11:19 mins

A federal court has scheduled an Oct. 16 hearing to consider whether to halt enforcement of the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate against a Bible publisher. The court scheduled the hearing in response to a preliminary injunction motion that Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Tyndale House Publishers filed Monday.

Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review: “The law does not give any religious-freedom exemption to faith-based operations like Tyndale,” Taylor, who is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, points out. “Instead, it imposes crushing fines on employers who are doing nothing more than following their consciences against abortion-inducing pills. The government is supposed to promote conscience protection, not attack it. The best solution is for Congress or the administration to respect the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by eliminating the abortion-pill mandate. But if they refuse to do their duty, we hope the courts will rule that the mandate is unlawful.”