Amicus Brief Urges the Highest Court to Honor and Protect Religious Freedom for Businesses and Their Owners

Contact: Tom Ciesielka, 312-422-1333, tc@tcpr.net

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today, Thomas More Society filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the religious liberty of private employers who seek to practice as well as profess their religious faith in the conduct of their business -- particularly when the government has no compelling reason to force them to violate their sincerely held religious convictions. On November 26, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases challenging the Obamacare Health and Human Services mandate: Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius, in which a private business was denied an injunction against the HHS mandate by the Third Circuit, and Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius, in which a private business was granted an HHS mandate injunction by the Tenth Circuit. The Thomas More Society's amicus brief urges the Court to reverse the Third Circuit in Conestoga and affirm the Tenth Circuit in Hobby Lobby, thus permitting both companies and their owners to abide by their religious convictions in the manner in which they carry on their respective businesses and relieving them from any obligation to comply with the HHS mandate as their cases proceed to final judgment.

Thomas More Society attorneys have filed five lawsuits against the HHS mandate on behalf of American private businesses and their owners as well as on behalf of individuals who object to paying for insurance coverage for contraceptives, abortion-inducing drugs, and sterilization, based on their sincerely held religious convictions.

"We hope that the Justices will honor and safeguard the fundamental religious liberties of American citizens to engage in the free exercise of their religious beliefs, not only in their houses of worship, but also in their day to day lives, in business as well as at home," said Tom Brejcha, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Society. "Americans must not be compelled to put aside their religious beliefs and values as a pre-condition to their entering into the sphere of commerce and making a living for themselves and their families," Brejcha added.

Read the Thomas More Society amicus brief, filed along with Liberty, Life, and Law Foundation, and Christian Family Coalition, here.

About the Thomas More Society
Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm that exists to restore respect in law for life, marriage, and religious liberty. Headquartered in Chicago, the Society fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro-bono professional legal services from local trial courts all the way to the United States Supreme Court. www.thomasmoresociety.org