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WASHINGTON (NBC News) — The Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate has hit a snag — The Supreme Court. Hours before the mandate was to go into effect, Justice Sonia Sotomayor granted a temporary exemption to catholic groups.
It's the last days of President Obama's two-week Hawaiian vacation, and he spent Thursday playing golf with the New Zealand prime minister and his son.
But in Washington, as life returns to normal after the New Year, it's back to Obamacare.
Friday, the Supreme Court could order the Obama administration to allow certain religious-affiliated non-profits to remain exempt from the law's requirement to provide birth control and other reproductive health services to their employees.
This comes after a group of Colorado nuns asked Justice Sonia Sotomayor for a temporary injunction from complying with the law.
A White House official responded saying: "we defer to the Department of Justice on litigation matters, but remain confident that our final rules strike the balance" between contraceptive care and "religious objections."
Coverage began Jan. 1 for the 2.1 million Americans who have enrolled in Obamacare since October, and President Obama's allies at organizing for action continue to promote the new law.
Obama himself sent out a New Year's tweet saying, "I signed the Affordable Care Act for kids like Marcelas Owens. He lost his mom because she couldn't afford coverage. Today millions of Americans finally can."
But the White House has not said who those millions of Americans are; a fact some Republicans say indicate an overall lack of trust.
"If they keep putting a flowery spin on everything, how are we ever going to trust that we are getting the best, accurate information about the prospects of the law?" Republican strategist Kevin Madden said.
The Obama administration formally asked the Supreme Court Friday to keep the contraceptive requirement in place.
