Today Is Decision Day For Hobby Lobby And Obamacare Contraception Mandate

by William Teach | June 30, 2014 7:46 am

How will the Supreme Court rule?

(Fox News[1]) Supporters of the arts-and-crafts chain Hobby Lobby — the business at the center of one of this session’s most closely watched Supreme Court cases — are sounding a confident tone ahead of Monday’s expected decision in their case challenging ObamaCare’s so-called contraception mandate.

The court meets for a final time Monday to release decisions in its two remaining cases before the justices take off for the summer.

The most contentious is that brought by Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby and a furniture maker in Pennsylvania. The for-profit businesses have challenged the requirement in the Affordable Care Act that employers cover contraception for women at no extra charge among a range of preventive benefits in employee health plans. It is the first major challenge to ObamaCare to come before the court since the justices upheld the law’s individual requirement to buy health insurance two years ago.

What is often missed within all the noise is that Hobby Lobby wasn’t concerned about contraceptives, as they offer them within their health plans. What they have a problem with, primarily, is being compelled by regulatory statute to offer abortifacients, such as the Day After pill, which violates their Freedom Of Religion.

Liberal supporters of the “contraception mandate”, which is not actually part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, but, rather, invented by HHS, have made their main complaint to be that companies are not people, therefore, no 1st Amendment protections, a truly dangerous position. I wonder how the liberals would feel if it was their company being told they had no free speech, no ability to ask for redress of grievance? We also hear from those on the Right that companies may not be people, but are made of people. While technically true, what gets missed is that the 1st Amendment makes no distinction between citizens and companies. It is telling government what they cannot do under any circumstances.

Of course, some news outlets, read “crazy liberals”, go a bit wonky ahead of the decision. Here’s Politico’s Stephanie Simon[2]

Hobby Lobby aims for Obamacare win, Christian nation

The evangelical owners of Hobby Lobby made a fortune selling crafts supplies and made headlines fighting government-mandated birth control coverage. They’re also using their billions to sell the American public on the literal truth of Scripture – through a public school Bible curriculum, a huge museum around the corner from the Smithsonian and public forums on the faith of the Founding Fathers.

The Green family may be best known in secular circles for their lawsuit against Obamacare, a high-stakes – and highly political – case that could undercut the administration’s goal of setting minimum standards for health care coverage. By the end of this month, the Supreme Court will decide if the federal government can force the Greens to include methods of contraception they deem sinful as part of employees’ health insurance.

The pending Hobby Lobby ruling has thrust the Greens into the national spotlight, but the family’s mission is far bigger than a single court case. The Greens are spending hundreds of millions on a quiet but audacious bid to teach a wayward nation to trust, cherish – and heed – the Bible.

This is purely red meat for hardcore Leftists, a concern about a growing theocracy or something, rather than people who care deeply about their religious beliefs. This also attempts to put the decision in terms of pushing America towards being a theocracy, while, interestingly, Liberals never seem concerned about the real danger from Islamists pushing for a giant caliphate. Finally, if the Greens have been thrust into the national spotlight, a dubious claim, then that means that the liberal mantra about corporations not being people is completely off base.

Seriously, you have to read the entire article, a two pager, for the full effect about the concern over growing religion. Politico also notes[3] the possibility that unions could take a major hit in Harris v Quinn. Wait, I thought “corporations aren’t people”, so, therefore, unions should not have the right to compel employee behavior?

The Hill[4] is also a bit hysterical

The boundaries of religious freedom hang in the balance as the Supreme Court prepares to close out its term with a decision on the Affordable Care Act’s “birth control mandate.”

Monday’s ruling, the most closely watched of the season, decides round two for ObamaCare at the high court, and will be the second time that the justices will close their term with a ruling on President Obama’s signature law.

The stakes are high. A ruling against the administration could undermine the statute’s provision requiring companies to offer contraceptive services to workers as part of their insurance coverage.

It would peel away a significant portion of the mandate, potentially affecting preventive health coverage for millions of women, the government and backers of the law say.

Perhaps even more important, they contend, are the ramifications of a finding that corporations could be exempt from federal statutes on grounds that they have religious objections.

One of Liberals arguments is the “slippery slope”, whereby, for example, companies would reject offering certain medicines since they violate their religious conscious, which hasn’t happened so far. Interestingly, they miss the reverse, where an administration can force companies to violate their religious beliefs, and other 1st Amendment protections.

At the end of the day, the decision is about Government compelling a violation of religious beliefs. It will not take down Obamacare, since this was, as mentioned, not an actual part of the law, but a rule manufactured by the Obama administration out of thin air. Most companies couldn’t care less about offering contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization procedures, and simply pass the cost on to their employees. Some do, and the 1st Amendment is their protection.

I expect a 5-4 decision, with the Liberals on the Court voting against the Constitution they say they cherish.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove[5]. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach[6].