GOP lawmakers back suit against birth-control mandate

Prominent Republican lawmakers are standing behind a Christian-run arts and crafts chain in its lawsuit over the Obama administration's birth-control mandate.

A group of 11 GOP members filed an amicus brief with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday. The brief argued that the Obama mandate runs contrary to a federal law protecting religious practice.

“Religious freedom is an issue our country was founded on, and it’s not a Democrat or Republican issue," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in a statement. 

"Unfortunately, the Obama administration has time and again ignored calls to stop the implementation of a policy some organizations or businesses are morally opposed to."

The appellate court denied injunctive relief for plaintiff Hobby Lobby in December. The company argues that covering a full range of birth-control methods in its employee health plan violates the religious beliefs of its owners.

In their legal brief, Hatch and his counterparts highlighted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which applies strict standards to federal actions that might infringe on religious liberty.

The law sailed through Congress in 1993 in response to an unpopular Supreme Court decision that was understood to limit the rights of Native Americans to use a traditional hallucinogen in religious ceremonies.

Hatch signed the brief along with Sens. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Frank Wolf (R-Va.).

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