More than two years later, the widespread opposition prompted by these twin actions has yet to dissipate, notwithstanding a refinement of the exemption and the promulgation of an “accommodation” for non-church religious nonprofit organizations. Many religious organizations regard the accommodation to be a sham. A significant number of businesses that have pro-life or Catholic ethical standards or whose owners are people morally opposed to some or all contraceptives have sued the federal government in the hope that the courts will give them relief even though the administration insists that businesses have zero religious freedom claims.

So opposition continues and the court cases continue to be filed, or to be refiled.

* The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s indispensable HHS Mandate Information Central notes that there are now 73 cases with over 200 plaintiffs.

* For-profit companies have filed 39 of these lawsuits, and in 30 of the 35 cases that have proceeded to some form of ruling on the applicability of the mandate, the businesses have won at least temporary relief from the mandate.

* In the cases brought by nonprofit religious organizations, such as colleges and hospitals, the courts have generally delayed consideration of the lawsuits or simply dismissed them as not ripe for action because of the temporary enforcement safe harbor, now extended to January 1, 2014 (no need to rule until the mandate is actually applied), or the late date of the final “accommodation” regulations (June 28, 2013)–how could a court rule before seeing those regulations?

* Religious nonprofits that sued are not dropping their lawsuits because of the final accommodation rules. Rather, new lawsuits are being launched–e.g., one by four Oklahoma higher education institutions: Southern Nazarene University, Oklahoma Wesleyan University, Oklahoma Baptist University, and Mid-America Christian University. And organizations whose lawsuits had been dismissed have re-filed–e.g., Colorado Christian University and Ave Maria University.

* The US Supreme Court may rule this term, perhaps next summer, on one or more of the religious business lawsuits. The Third Circuit federal appeals court ruled against Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Mennonite-owned company; the Tenth Circuit court went the other way, ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby. The Supreme Court has been asked to take up both cases, resolving the differences between these two rulings. Note that a Supreme Court decision need not resolve all the questions, but might be limited to deciding whether a business or business owners can even have a valid religious freedom claim, kicking the decision whether the mandate can or cannot be imposed on the specific company back to a lower court.