Activists!

The Supreme Court today refused to hear two religiously oriented cases, which in effect allows the lower court rulings to stand. This comes from a very conservative Supreme Court - and it's astonishingly good news. I truly am shocked.

New York is one of 23 states that require employers offering prescription benefits to employees to cover birth control pills as well, the groups say. The state enacted the Women's Health and Wellness Act in 2002 to require health plans to cover contraception and other services aimed at women, including mammography, cervical cancer screenings and bone density exams.

Yay.. this means that if a woman who works for some fundis wants to be in control of her own reproductive system, she will be treated exactly the same as someone who does not work for a fundi group.

In the other case;

In the library case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco had ruled that public libraries can block religious groups like the Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries from worshipping in public meeting rooms.
[...]
Allowing worship services would amount to having taxpayers subsidize religious exercises, argued the Contra Costa County, Calif., Library Board, which operated the facility in Antioch, Calif.

More good news.. the fundis are rebuked from using public facilities for religious purposes!

While it would have been better for the court to hear the case and affirm the lower court rulings, considering the composition of the court today, this is a big victory for secularism in the United States.