AUSTIN – State Rep. Dan Branch, Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General, is backing companies disputing a mandate to provide contraception coverage to employees under Obamacare.
Branch submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in two cases challenging the mandate. In the brief, the Dallas representative said the law “coerces” employers to provide the coverage even if it runs contrary to their religious beliefs.
“That is plainly a substantial burden on religious exercise, in violation of [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act],” Branch said.
The filing is the latest in a string of briefs Branch has submitted in prominent cases. He filed an amicus brief in November with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals asking it to uphold House Bill 2, the sweeping anti-abortion legislation passed by the Legislature last summer.
That follows a brief he filed to the Texas Supreme Court in August supporting the state’s law defining marriage as between a man and a woman. The court was examining whether a gay couple married in Massachusetts could be divorced in Texas.
Branch will face off against state Sen. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, and Railroad Commission Chairman Barry Smitherman in the March 4 primary.
