Silk on Stearns' Ruling

Silk on Stearns' Ruling by MSW.  My response: Letting a religious institution violate the terms of the statement of work because of their beliefs, rather than simply letting them bring their faith commitment to that task to add value, would be the establishment of religion and it is not permitted.  Having served as both a contract specialist in the government and as a proposal manager on grants, including to HHS, not first winning on the statement of work question by challenging its contents before the proposal was submitted was a waste of time.  While there is a procedure to deal with exceptions to the statement of work in a proposal - on an issue this controversial, it was simply insane to not raise the issue loudly and publicly at the RFQ release rather than waiting until the award was announced.  The Church's difficulty here is that they cannot cry pluralism as a defense when their goal is that no provider include contraceptive and abortion services to a population that arguably has been subject to rape (so Hatch does not apply).  You can't try to first impose your beliefs on everyone and then complain that they are imposing theirs on you.