The central issue of the public debate over the Obama administration’s contraception mandate, which of course requires all manner of religious and secular entities to fund sterilizations, contraceptives, and abortifacients, has been its brazen disregard of basic liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment. That the focus has been on this aspect of the mandate is hardly surprising. The cavalier manner with which HHS imposed it on Catholic hospitals, universities, and private businesses whose owners object on religious grounds is unprecedented.

And, if the string of legal setbacks suffered by the administration in the lawsuits filed by various plaintiffs pursuant to the HHS edict is any indication, the courts are also uneasy with the mandate: “In the cases involving...