The HHS Mandate continues to cause problems for faithful Catholics standing up for their religious liberty. There’s a battle going on this week in courts across the nation, where more than 40 dioceses or Catholic institutions are fighting just to have their arguments heard by the Federal Government. The simultaneous filings Aug. 27 were in response to an Aug. 6 brief in which the Obama admi... More

Or, at least, his recent comments make it seem that way. BFFsCharlie Wilson, the Catholic former pro-life former congressman from Ohio’s sixth district wants his seat back. Charlie Wilson voted for Obamacare. He was one of those on-the-fence last-minute votes that put Obamacare over the top. Charlie Wilson recently expressed pride in his votes while in Congress. But when I wrote about his ... More

Charlie Wilson and his bud, Nancy Pelosi, sharing a laugh at a press conference. Charlie Wilson, Catholic Democrat former pro-life former congressman from my district, OH-6, wants his seat back. He lost in 2010 to Republican Bill Johnson and is sore about it. In an article in the Wheeling News-Intelligencer (that’s in West Virginia, by the way, across the river from the district… just ... More

Lost amid the seriousness of last week’s Supreme Court decision upholding Obama-care was yet another bizarre statement by Nancy Pelosi, the Roman Catholic former Speaker of the House who spearheaded the healthcare legislation that has become the law of the land. Pelosi cited an unusual source helping to guide the high court’s action: the spirit of the late Ted Kennedy. “I knew that when he l... More

I'm not going to call it a tax. Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent. Perhaps I’m an optimist. Perhaps I’m optimistically cynical. Cynically optimistic? But isn’t that sort of thing required in politics? I join Jonah Goldberg and others who are miffed at Mitt Romney’s insistence on calling Obamacare a “penalty” rather than a “tax,” thus seemi... More

The political world is still blazing with reaction to the Supreme Court decision of Thursday upholding Obamacare, specifically the mandate that individuals purchase health insurance. I’ve got mixed emotions regarding the decision and the political fallout—which apparently makes me as out of place as I felt during the NBA playoffs when I had ambivalent feelings about LeBron James. Here are few ... More

My personal reactions to the Supreme Court decision yesterday have varied, but wherever I find myself at any given moment, I mainly still agree with what Carson Holloway said so well in his post “In Defense of John Roberts,” indeed it is mostly what I would have wanted to have said. I particularly liked this line: But if you think the mandate is just so obviously beyond the scope of the taxing... More

The majority decision of the Supreme Court today says that it is. Chief Justice Roberts agrees, saying, “Because the Constitution permits such a tax, it is not our role to forbid it, or to pass upon its wisdom or fairness”. But there’s a big problem with that interpretation. The Obama administration claimed that the mandate penalty was not a tax. The legislation is written in a ... More

I recently heard from a source within the Department of Health and Human Services who indicated to me that people within the organization are “terrified” of what is going to happen. Not just with the mandate, which Catholics are combating eloquently in the Fortnight for Freedom. They’re afraid that the entire health care legislation will come tumbling down. If that happens, they... More

Sister Carol Keehan utterly, tragically misses the point. With analysis by CV blogger Matt Bowman the Cardinal Newman Society reports that the Catholic Health Association and its leader, Sister Carol, have proposed that the HHS mandate be expanded to exempt religious institutions according to the same criteria that the IRS uses for religious tax exemptions. CNS gets into reasons why this is still ... More