The ruling is a win for President Donald Trump, who has vowed to act aggressively to protect what he and other conservatives frame as religious liberty, as well as for the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic religious order for women who, along with the Trump administration, asked the court to step in.

Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the majority opinion, wrote that the justices held that the government "had the statutory authority to craft that exemption, as well as the contemporaneously issued moral exemption." He was joined in full by Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

Thomas commended the Little Sisters of the Poor for their efforts.

"For the past seven years, they -- like many other religious objectors who have participated in the litigation and rulemakings leading up to today's decision -- have had to fight for the ability to continue in their noble work without violating their sincerely held religious beliefs," he wrote.

Thomas continued, "After two decisions from this Court and multiple failed regulatory attempts, the Federal Government has arrived at a solution that exempts the Little Sisters from the source of their complicity-based concerns -- the administratively imposed contraceptive mandate."

Liberal justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan agreed with the court's judgment but under different rationale.

At oral arguments held over the phone because of the coronavirus, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- participating from a hospital bed because of a gall bladder condition -- lambasted the government's position, arguing it would leave women "to hunt for other government programs that might cover them."

Pennsylvania and other states challenged the federal government move in court, arguing in part that they would have to step in and provide coverage for women seeking coverage.

A federal appeals court blocked the rules nationwide, holding that the states would suffer irreparable harm and "unredressable financial consequences" from subsidizing contraceptive services and "providing funds for medical care associated with unintended pregnancies." The court said that the states' financial injury "outweighs any purported injury to religious exercise."

The Trump administration and the Little Sisters of the Poor asked the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco had argued that the accommodation still made some entities feel complicit in providing contraceptive coverage to their employees.

He pointed out that an accommodation is already in place that allows certain objecting employers to exclude contraception for the benefit packages and allowing third parties to provide the coverage directly.

"This approach," Shapiro said, "balances the employers' sincere religious belief with the health of their female employees."

He said that such a balance was "disrupted" when the Trump administration moved to allow more people, including publicly traded corporations and large universities, to receive an exemption.

"The existing accommodation respects both the health of women and the religious liberty interests of employers," he argued.

Shapiro lamented the court's decision Wednesday, but vowed to continue fighting the administration's rule in the lower courts.

"While I am disappointed with much of the majority opinion, I am pleased the Court allowed our challenge to the Administration's overly broad rules to proceed," he said.

The Court did the right thing by protecting the Little Sisters from an unnecessary mandate that would have gutted their ministry," said Mark Rienzi, a lawyer behind the challenge and the president of Becket, a law firm that specializes in religious liberty issues.