The dispute over the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' new regulations mandating that employers provide contraception coverage has been framed by opponents of the rules as a fight over religious liberty. And so it is.
Catholic institutions object that the rules force them to support activities — sterilization and abortion, in addition to contraception — that they view as immoral. It's like compelling Jehovah's Witnesses to salute the flag, or Quakers to fight, or Jews to eat pork. That's why Catholic University, where I am president, joined 42 other plaintiffs in filing suit against HHS.
But I'd like to focus on a different aspect of the rules, and a different constitutional principle that those opposing our lawsuit may find more appealing: the separation of church and state.