Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/19-431_5i36.pdf
Page Number: 13.0

Cite as:  591 U. S. ____ (2020) 

9 

Opinion of the Court 

of Health and Human Servs., 724 F. 3d 377 (CA3 2013); Au-
tocam  Corp.  v.  Sebelius,  730  F. 3d  618  (CA6  2013).    This 
Court granted certiorari in two cases involving three closely
held corporations to decide whether the mandate violated 
RFRA.  Hobby Lobby, 573 U. S. 682. 

The individual respondents in Hobby Lobby opposed four 
methods  of  contraception  covered  by  the  mandate.    They
sincerely believed that human life begins at conception and 
that,  because  the  challenged  methods  of  contraception 
risked  causing  the  death  of  a  human  embryo,  providing 
those  methods  of  contraception  to  employees  would  make 
the employers complicit in abortion.  Id., at 691, 720.  We 
held that the mandate substantially burdened respondents’ 
free exercise, explaining that “[if] the owners comply with
the  HHS  mandate,  they  believe  they  will  be  facilitating 
abortions, and if they do not comply, they will pay a very 
heavy  price.”  Id.,  at  691.    “If  these  consequences  do  not 
amount to a substantial burden,” we stated, “it is hard to 
see what would.”  Ibid.  We also held that the mandate did 
not utilize the least restrictive means, citing the self-certi-
fication accommodation as a less burdensome alternative. 
Id., at 730–731. 

Thus, as the Departments began the task of reformulat-
ing rules related to the contraceptive mandate, they did so 
not only under Zubik’s direction to accommodate religious
exercise,  but  also  against  the  backdrop  of  Hobby  Lobby’s 
pronouncement that the mandate, standing alone, violated 
RFRA as applied to religious entities with complicity-based
objections. 

D 

In 2016, the Departments attempted to strike the proper 
balance a third time, publishing a request for information
on ways to comply with Zubik.  81 Fed. Reg. 47741.  This 
attempt proved futile, as the Departments ultimately con-
cluded  that  “no  feasible  approach”  had  been  identified.