For almost a decade, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has challenged New York’s legislation mandating that insurance coverage insurance policies cowl abortions. A cert petition was first filed in April 2021.However in November 2021, the Courtroom GVR’d the case in gentle of Fulton. In Could 2024, the New York Courtroom of Appeals discovered that Fulton modified nothing.
In July 2024, the Diocese petitioned for cert a second time. The case sat on the docket for almost a yr. On June 5, the Courtroom resolve Catholic Charities Bureau. On June 9, the Courtroom scheduled the Diocese petition for the June 12 convention. The Diocese urged the Courtroom to summarily reverse in gentle of the Wisconsin case:
This Courtroom’s unanimous ruling in Catholic Charities Bureau, Inc. v. Wisconsin Labor & Trade Overview Fee, 605 U.S. —-, 2025 WL 1583299 (June 5, 2025), controls the preliminary query introduced on this matter. Except the Courtroom needs to grant the petition for different causes, abstract reversal is warranted. Granting the petition to vacate the choice under for a second time and remanding for but additional consideration would needlessly delay this matter, imposing important burdens on Petitioners and different non secular organizations.
Unsurprisingly, New York sought a remand to maintain the case on ice.
At this time, almost a yr after the newest cert petition was filed, and greater than 4 years after the primary petition was filed, the Courtroom GVR’d the case in gentle of Catholic Charities Bureau.
It’s tough to explain how a lot effort and time has been spent on this case, amid two main landmark rulings. But, at the least 5 members of the Courtroom despatched the Diocese again to New York purgatory. And I am keen to guess that Justice Barrett, the Courtroom’s premier procedural formalist, was unwilling to grant a abstract reversal. Way more on Justice Barrett tomorrow.
