Justice Sotomayor's New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor temporarily enjoined the federal government from enforcing the provision (and related regulations) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 300gg-13(a)(4), requiring health insurance coverage of birth control against certain non-profit, religiously-affiliated employers. The government, through Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, has until 10:00 a.m. Friday, January 3rd, to respond to the application.

The Supreme Court already has granted certiorari in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius to hear constitutional challenges to the coverage requirement for birth control and other pregnancy-related services from secular for-profit businesses whose owners have religious objections to contraception.

Later that evening, Justice Sotomayor, a native of the Bronx, pushed the button to begin the Waterford Crystal ball-drop countdown in New York City's Times Square.

The following selected resources from the McKusick Law Library provide more information about Justice Sotomayor, women in the judiciary, and the Affordable Care Act:

Sonia Sotomayor, A Latina Judge's Voice, 13 Berkeley La Raza L. J. 87 (2002)(USD log in).

Sally J. Kenney, Gender and Justice: Why Women in the Judiciary Really Matter (2013).

Joan Biskupic, Sandra Day O'Connor: How the First Woman on the Supreme Court Became Its Most Influential Justice (2005).

Constance Baker Motley, Equal Justice Under Law: An Autobiography (1998).

Lawrence R. Jacobs & Theda Skocpol, Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know (2010).

Hat tip to Debra Cassens Weiss and Martha Neill of the ABA Journal and Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog.