Catholic Charities v. Superior Court

• Decision Date: 01 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. S099822.,S099822.
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SACRAMENTO, INC., Petitioner, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of Sacramento County, Respondent; Department of Managed Health Care et al., Real Parties in Interest.

10 Cal.Rptr.3d 283

32 Cal.4th 527

85 P.3d 67

CATHOLIC CHARITIES OF SACRAMENTO, INC., Petitioner, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of Sacramento County, Respondent;

Department of Managed Health Care et al., Real Parties in Interest.

No. S099822.

Supreme Court of California.

March 1, 2004.

Certiorari Denied October 4, 2004.

Law Office of James Francis Sweeney, Sweeney & Grant, James F. Sweeney, Sacramento, Eric Grant; Tobin & Tobin, Paul E. Gaspari and Lawrence R. Jannuzzi, San Francisco, for Petitioner.

Gaglione, Coleman & Greene, Robert J. Gaglione, Sacramento; and Michael D. Ramsey for Catholic Charities USA as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Diepenbrock & Costa, Law Offices of Daniel P. Costa, Daniel P. Costa, Sacramento; and William W. Bassett for California Catholic Conference as Amicus Curiae for Petitioner.

Richard D. Ackerman, Temecula and Gary G. Kreep, Escondido, for Life Legal Defense Fund as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Reed & Brown, Stephen W. Reed, Pasadena; Stuart J. Lark, Colorado Springs, CO, and Gregory S Baylor for Christian Legal Society, Focus on the Family, Family Research Council and Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

McNicholas & McNicholas and John P. McNicholas, Los Angeles, for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, the Worldwide Church of God and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Alan J. Reinach, Westlake Village; Alan E. Brownstein; Bassi, Martinin & Blum and Fred Blum for California Coalition for the Free Exercise of Religion as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

Sidley & Austin, Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, Jeffrey A. Berman, James M. Harris, Los Angeles, Gene C. Schaerr, Washington, DC, Michael S. Lee, Rebecca K. Smith and Eric A. Shumsky for Adventist Health, Alliance of Catholic Health Care, Association of Christian Schools International, Catholic Charities of California, Catholic Charities USA, Inc., Loma Linda University and Loma Linda University Medical Center as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner.

No appearance for Respondent.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Pamela Smith Steward, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Manuel M. Medeiros and Andrea Lynn Hoch, Assistant Attorneys General, Catherine M. Van Aken, Meg Halloran, Christopher Krueger, Kenneth R. Williams, Kathleen W. Mikkelson, Daniel G. Stone and Timothy M. Muscat, Deputy Attorneys General, for Real Parties in Interest.

Catherine Weiss, Julie Sternberg; Margaret C. Crosby, Ann Brick; Jordan Budd; Rocio L. Cordoba and Mark Rosenbaum, Los Angeles, for American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, ACLU Foundation of Southern California and American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Parties in Interest.

Rosina K. Abramson, Steven M. Freeman, Tamar Galatzan, Erica Broido, Los Angeles; Rachel Zenner; Doug Mirell, Daniel Sokatch; Jerome J. Shestack, Jeffrey P. Sinensky, Kara H. Stein, Danielle

A. Samulon; Morrison & Foerster, J. Michael Stusiak, Sacramento, Sunil R. Kulkarni, Palo Alto and Felton T. Newell for Anti Defamation League, Hadassah, The American Jewish Committee and The Progressive Jewish Alliance as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Parties in Interest.

Eisen & Johnston Law Corporation, Jay Allen Eisen and Marian M. Johnston for Assemblymember Robert J. Hertzberg and Senator Jackie Speier as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Parties in Interest.

Edward Tabash, Beverly Hills; Ayesha Khan, New York, NY; and Steve K. Green for Americans United for Separation of Church and State as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Parties in Interest.

Nancy M. Solomon for California Women's Law Center, California Women Lawyers, Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and Queen's Bench Bar Association of the San Francisco Bay Area as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondent and Real Parties in Interest.

Eve C. Gartner, New York, NY, Donna Lee, San Francisco; Roberta Riley; Lilly Spitz; and Deborah Baumgarten for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, California Planned Parenthood Education Fund, All Planned Parenthood Affiliates and Planned Parenthood Federation of America as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondent and Real Parties in Interest.

Catherine I. Hanson and Astrid G. Meghrigian, San Francisco, for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the California Medical Association as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondent and Real Parties in Interest.

McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, Beth H. Parker and Alison R. Beck, San Francisco, for Catholics for a Free Choice, California Catholics for a Free Choice, Catholics Speak Out, Dignity/USA, Vermont Catholics for a Free Conscience, Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual and Women's Ordination Conference as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondent and Real Parties in Interest.

Bebe J. Anderson; Farella Braun & Martel, Claudia A. Lewis, Sarah L. Kowalski, San Francisco; and Ronora Pawelko for The California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, The Caral Pro Choice Education Fund, The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, The Education Fund of Family Planning Advocates of New York State, Inc., and National Women's Law Center as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondent and Real Party in Interest.

Christyne L. Neff and Barry Broad, Sacramento, for International Union, AFL CIO & CLC, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Service Employees International Union, Local 535 and California Nurses Association as Amici Curiae on behalf of Respondent and Real Parties Interest.

Certiorari Denied October 4, 2004. See 125 S.Ct. 53.

WERDEGAR, J.

In this case, we address a church-affiliated employer's constitutional challenges to the Women's Contraception Equity Act (WCEA),¹ under which certain health and disability insurance contracts must cover prescription contraceptives. The plaintiff employer, which opposes contraceptives on religious grounds, claims the statute violates the establishment and free exercise clauses of the United States and California Constitutions. (U.S. Const., 1st Amend.; Cal. Const., art. I, § 4.) The lower courts rejected the employer's claims. We affirm.

I. FACTS

The Legislature enacted the WCEA in 1999 to eliminate gender discrimination in health care benefits and to improve access to prescription contraceptives. Evidence before the Legislature showed that women during their reproductive years spent as much as 68 percent more than men in out-of-pocket health care costs, due in large part to the cost of prescription contraceptives and the various costs of unintended pregnancies, including health risks, premature deliveries and increased neonatal care. Evidence also showed that, while most health maintenance organizations (HMO's) covered prescription contraceptives, not all preferred provider organization (PPO) and indemnity plans did. As a result, approximately 10 percent of commercially insured Californians did not have coverage for prescription contraceptives.

The Legislature chose to address these problems by regulating the terms of insurance contracts. The WCEA does not require any employer to offer coverage for prescription drugs. Under the WCEA, however, certain health and disability insurance plans that cover prescription drugs must cover prescription contraceptives. As an exception, the law permits a "religious employer" to request a policy that includes drug coverage but excludes coverage for "contraceptive methods that are contrary to the religious employer's religious tenets."² Health and Safety Code section 1367.25 governs group health care service plan contracts;³ Insurance Code section 10123.196 governs individual and group disability insurance policies.⁴

Plaintiff Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc. (hereafter Catholic Charities) is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation. (See Corp.Code, § 5110 et seq.) Although independently incorporated, Catholic Charities describes itself as "operated in connection with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Sacramento" and as "an organ of the Roman Catholic Church." The nonprofit corporation "offer[s] a multitude of social services and private welfare programs to the general public, as part of the social justice ministry of the Roman Catholic Church." These services and programs include "providing immigrant resettlement programs, elder care, counseling, food, clothing and affordable housing for the poor and needy, housing and vocational training of the developmentally disabled and the like."

Catholic Charities offers health insurance, including prescription drug coverage, to its 183 full-time employees through group health care plans underwritten by Blue Shield of California and Kaiser Permanente. Catholic Charities does not, however, offer insurance for prescription contraceptives because it considers itself obliged to follow the Roman Catholic Church's religious teachings, because the Church considers contraception a sin, and because Catholic Charities believes it cannot offer insurance for prescription contraceptives without improperly facilitating that sin.

As mentioned, the WCEA permits a "religious employer" to offer prescription drug insurance without coverage for contraceptives that violate the employer's religious tenets. (Health & Saf.Code, § 1367.25, subd. (b).) The act defines a "religious employer" as "an entity for which each of the following is true: [¶] (A) The inculcation of religious values is the purpose of the entity. [¶] (B) The entity primarily employs persons who share the religious tenets of the entity. [¶] (C) The entity serves primarily persons who share the religious tenets of the entity. [¶] (D) The entity is a nonprofit organization as described in Section 6033(a)(2)(A)i or iii, of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended." (Ibid.) The cited...