It's about time that a court realizes that Americans have the Freedom Of Religion!
Conservative Tom
(AP)
He put the case on hold until Oct. 1, giving the federal government time to decide whether to appeal.
"There is a substantial public interest in ensuring that no individual or corporation has their legs cut out from under them while these difficult issues are resolved," Heaton said at a hearing, according to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonprofit law firm representing Hobby Lobby.
A U.S. Department of Justice spokesman had no immediate comment. The government has said contraception coverage is needed to promote public health and gender equality.
The Green family, which owns Hobby Lobby, said that providing coverage to workers for the morning-after pill and similar contraceptives violated its Christian beliefs.
It also said it could have under Obamacare faced $1.3 million in daily fines by not providing such coverage. Hobby Lobby has 556 stores in 45 U.S. states.
On June 27, a federal appeals court in Denver let Hobby Lobby challenge the mandate on religious grounds, and said there was a good chance the company would prevail.
It said Hobby Lobby had "drawn a line at providing coverage for drugs or devices they consider to induce abortions, and it is not for us to question whether the line is reasonable."
The Becket Fund said there are 63 lawsuits challenging the mandate. It called Heaton's decision a victory for "the religious liberty of all for-profit businesses."
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"It's about time that a court realizes that Americans have the Freedom Of Religion!"
ReplyDeleteThe courts have always held that Americans have freedom of religion. That is not the issue. The issue is whether for-profit, secular corporations as "persons" warrant exemptions under the ACA rules. Hobby Lobby is not a "religious organization", because its primary purpose is to selling craft products for profit. The fact that is is owned by a religious owner (actually the Greens don't own it directly -- it is owned by a trust) doesn't make it a religious organization. The district court recognized the clear distinction between the Greens and the corporation, and the appeals court merged them into a single entity with statements like "...And because the contraceptive-coverage requirement places
substantial pressure on Hobby Lobby and Mardel to violate their sincere religious beliefs, their exercise of religion is substantially burdened within the meaning of RFRA."
Unlike the Greens, a corporation has no brain and, therefore, no beliefs -- religious or otherwise. However, a corporation can have purpose stated on his business license. Hobby Lobby is incorporated for no religious purpose. It is a secular entity with the purpose of selling craft products for profit. This is NOT an exercise of religion. The district court opinion was correct.
A couple of footnotes for you:
1. The appeals court opinion states that Hobby Lobby group insurance must provide women with 16 of the 20 contraceptive methods under ACA.
2. If Hobby Lobby were a publicly traded company, it would lose its exemption. That seems totally arbitrary to me. There are some privately owned companies that are much larger than some publicly traded companies. How is it, under their reasoning, that an evangelical Christian CEO of a publicly traded company is not getting his religious freedom violated if he opposes ACA rules just like the Greens did? The other corollary is that the Greens lose their protection from this court's opinion if they "go public" with an IPO.
3. The district court can still rule against Hobby Lobby on 2 or 3 issues not addressed by either them or the appeals court, so this is still and ongoing case.
--David