Grote Industries v. Sebelius
Description: Grote Industries is a family-run auto lighting company and job provider based in Madison, Ind. The Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and devices, sterilization, and contraception under threat of heavy penalties. This coercive mandate violates Grote’s constitutionally protected freedom of religion and conscience; therefore, in 2012, Alliance Defending Freedom filed suit on behalf of the company and the family that owns it.
7th Circuit: Obama's defense of abortion pill mandate 'unsound and extraordinary'
Attorney sound bite: Matt Bowman
The mandate forces employers, regardless of their religious or moral convictions, to provide insurance coverage for abortion-inducing drugs and devices, sterilization, and contraception under threat of heavy penalties.
“All Americans, including job creators, should be free to honor God and live according to their faith,” said Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman, who argued before the 7th Circuit in May. “The court’s decision joins the majority of other rulings on the mandate, which have found it to excessively conflict with our nation’s guarantee of religious freedom to all Americans. The decision rightly foresees the dangers of allowing government to have this kind of power. If the government can force family business owners to act contrary to their deepest convictions under the threat of fining them out of business, it is a danger to everybody.”
The decision suspends the mandate for two job creators, including a family-run auto lighting manufacturer represented by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and allied attorneys. In January, the 7th Circuit issued an order in Grote Industries v. Sebelius that temporarily stopped enforcement of the mandate until appeals could be resolved.“We hold that the plaintiffs--the business owners and their companies--may challenge the mandate. We further hold that compelling them to cover these services substantially burdens their religious exercise rights…,” the 7th Circuit’s decision states. “On the government’s understanding of religious liberty, a Jewish restaurant operating for profit could be denied the right to observe Kosher dietary restrictions. That cannot be right. There is nothing inherently incompatible between religious exercise and profit-seeking.”
Grote Industries, based in Madison, Ind. and founded in 1901 by William Grote, is a leading manufacturer and marketer of vehicle lighting and safety systems and operates in multiple countries in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Mike Wilkins, one of nearly 2,300 attorneys allied with Alliance Defending Freedom, represents Grote Industries together with allied attorney Michael Cork, also of Indianapolis. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys are co-counsel in the case. Allied attorney Bryan Beauman is local counsel.
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and allied attorneys are litigating 14 other lawsuits against the mandate. The lawsuits represent a large cross-section of Protestants and Catholics who object to the mandate.
- Pronunciation guide: Grote (GROW’-tee), Bowman (BOH’-min), Beauman (BOH’-min)
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ABOUT Matt Bowman
Matt Bowman serves as senior counsel and director of regulatory practice for Alliance Defending Freedom, where he leads the team focusing on the impact of administrative law on religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and family. From 2017 to 2020, Bowman was a senior executive service appointee in the Trump administration, serving the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as Deputy General Counsel, and then in the Office for Civil Rights. Prior to joining HHS, Bowman was an accomplished litigator at ADF for over ten years. Before joining ADF in 2006, Bowman served as a law clerk for Judges Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Michael A. Chagares, at the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and for Judge John M. Roll at the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. Bowman earned his J.D. summa cum laude and was first in his class at Ave Maria School of Law in 2003. He is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia and Michigan and is admitted to practice at the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal appellate and district courts.