Catholic Charities v. Superior Court

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Manuel M. Medeiros, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Kenneth R. Williams, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Kathleen W. Mikkelson, and Daniel G. Stone, Deputy Attorneys General for Real Parties in Interest.

Catherine Weiss, Julie Sternberg, Margaret C. Crosby, Ann Brick for American Civil Liberties Union Reproductive Freedom Project et al. as amici curiae for Real Parties in Interest.

Lilly Spitz; Bebe J. Anderson; and Deborah Baumgarten for California Planned Parenthood Education Fund et al. as Amici Curiae for Real Parties in Interest.

McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen, Beth Harrison Parker, San Francisco; Donna Lee, San Francisco; and Eve C. Gartner for Catholics for a Free Choice et al. as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Parties in Interest.

SCOTLAND, P.J.

Asserting that, under the religious tenets of Catholicism, the use of contraception is extrinsically evil and a grave sin, Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc. (Catholic Charities), raises constitutional challenges to a statutory scheme which requires that, with an exception not applicable to Catholic Charities, California employers who provide their employees with health insurance…