Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc. v. Superior Court
Supreme Court of California
85 P.3d 67 (Cal. 2004)
California's Women's Contraception Equity Act required any employer that voluntarily offered prescription drug coverage to also cover prescription contraceptives, while letting religious employers meeting a specific statutory definition (organizations primarily engaged in religious inculcation, primarily employing and serving people sharing the same religious tenets) claim an exemption; Catholic Charities of Sacramento (plaintiff), a nonprofit serving mostly non-Catholic clients and employing mostly non-Catholic staff, offered drug coverage but objected to covering contraceptives on religious grounds, yet didn't meet the statutory religious-employer definition and couldn't claim the exemption. CCS sued California, seeking a declaration that the law violated the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses; the lower courts rejected CCS's challenge, and the California Supreme Court granted review.
Whether a state law requiring employers offering prescription drug coverage to also cover contraceptives, while exempting only narrowly defined religious employers, violates the federal and state constitutional protections for religious exercise and against religious establishment.