Christian Healthcare Centers v. Nessel
Description: Michigan’s civil rights law, which state courts recently reinterpreted to include sexual orientation and gender identity, now requires religious organizations like Christian Healthcare Centers to hire people who do not share their faith, to prescribe cross-sex hormones to facilitate efforts to alter a patient’s biological sex, and to use pronouns that do not accord with a person’s biological sex. All of this violates Christian Healthcare Centers’ religious beliefs and undermines its ability to provide safe healthcare to the needy and the rest of the community.
MI laws threaten religious medical ministry serving its community
WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys
WHAT: Available for media interviews following oral arguments in Christian Healthcare Centers v. Nessel
WHEN: Immediately following hearing, which begins at 1 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, June 11
WHERE: U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, Potter Stewart U.S. Courthouse, 100 E. 5th St., Cincinnati. To schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Specialist Hattie Troutman at (771) 200-7630.
CINCINNATI – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a faith-based medical nonprofit ministry will be available for media interviews following oral arguments Tuesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Christian Healthcare Centers v. Nessel, a case that seeks to protect the Michigan-based ministry’s constitutionally protected freedom to operate as a religious organization.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and other state officials are responsible for enforcing Michigan’s civil rights laws. These laws threaten to force Christian Healthcare to hire people who do not share their faith, to prescribe cross-sex hormones, and to use pronouns that do not accord with a person’s sex. The laws are also being used to prohibit Christian Healthcare from explaining its religious reasons for these choices to the public. All of this violates the ministry’s religious beliefs, burdens its ability to advance its religious mission, and undermines its ability to provide safe health care to its community.
“Religious organizations should be free to operate and serve their communities according to their beliefs,” said ADF Legal Counsel Bryan Neihart, who will be arguing before the court. “Rather than respecting Christian Healthcare’s religious motivations to provide quality care to all members of the community, Michigan state officials are threatening to punish the ministry for living out its faith. Allowing the government to compel a religious organization to violate its beliefs nullifies longstanding First Amendment protections, and we are urging the court to protect the deeply held beliefs of faith-based ministries.”
Christian Healthcare is a nonprofit medical provider that offers high-quality health care to all of its members—including members who identify as LGBT—while substantially reducing prices for patients with lower incomes who cannot afford quality care elsewhere. The organization’s founders formed the ministry to offer a distinctly Christian alternative to traditional primary care, focusing on meeting patients’ medical, emotional, and spiritual needs. To that end, it hires staff who share its religious mission and provide medical care consistent with its religious beliefs.
After Christian Healthcare filed its appeal with the 6th Circuit in October, the ministry received support in the form of friend-of-the-court briefs from a variety of other faith groups.
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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ABOUT John Bursch
John Bursch is senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy with Alliance Defending Freedom. Bursch has argued 12 U.S. Supreme Court cases and more than 30 state supreme court cases since 2011, and a recent study concluded that among all frequent Supreme Court advocates who did not work for the federal government, he had the 3rd highest success rate for persuading justices to adopt his legal position. Bursch served as solicitor general for the state of Michigan from 2011-2013. He has argued multiple Michigan Supreme Court cases in eight of the last ten terms and has successfully litigated hundreds of matters nationwide, including six with at least $1 billion at stake. As part of his private firm, Bursch Law PLLC, he has represented Fortune 500 companies, foreign and domestic governments, top public officials, and industry associations in high-profile cases, primarily on appeal. He received his J.D. magna cum laude in 1997 from the University of Minnesota Law School and is admitted to practice in numerous federal district and appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.
ABOUT Bryan Neihart
Bryan Neihart serves as legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, where he is a member of the Center for Conscience Initiatives. Before joining ADF, Neihart clerked for judges on the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado and the Colorado Court of Appeals. He also practiced law with a litigation firm in Denver, Colorado where he primarily represented businesses, insurance companies, and hospitals in both federal and state courts. Neihart worked as a law clerk to Judge David Furman of the Colorado Court of Appeals after graduating from law school. Neihart earned his J.D. from the Sturm College of Law of the University of Denver in 2014, where he was inducted into the Order of the Coif and served as a board member on the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy. While attending the University of Denver, he also received a M.A. in international human rights from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies. Neihart obtained his B.A., summa cum laude, in French and international relations from Wheaton College (IL) in 2011. Neihart is a member of the state bars of Arizona and Colorado.