Wheaton College Order Changes Landscape of Contraceptive Mandate for Religious Nonprofit Organizations

Supreme Court Issues Decisions that Change Employment Law Landscape

Hobby Lobby Case: In Praise of Constitutionally Minded Justices

This has been a stellar week for Supreme Court decisions, and the Hobby Lobby case acts as a nice bookend along with the court’s appropriate strikedown of Massachusetts’s protest ban.

If you haven’t logged into the news in a couple of days, The Supreme Court ruled Monday that companies need not obey the Obamacare mandate when it comes to paying for emergency contraceptive coverage. In some cases, this type of coverage could lead to drug-induced abortions which could play into direct conflict of a company’s religious beliefs.

Naturally, a company cannot strictly have religious beliefs, which is why the court’s decision resonated with logic and care. They limited their ruling to closely-held companies only, and the ruling is only in the specific area of a few birth control options. The case concerned the nationwide craftstore chain Hobby Lobby, owned by the Oklahoma-based Green family. The Greens were on record saying they had no problem covering many of the Obamacare-mandated birth control methods, but would not pay for four others because it went against their religious beliefs regarding abortion.

- See more at: http://www.leanrightamerica.org/health/the-hobby-lobby-case-in-praise-of-constitutionally-minded-justices/#sthash.0YtfKLoI.dpuf

Supreme Court rules on Hobby Lobby vs. Obamacare

BOB UNRUH

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision Monday ruled that a “closely held” for-profit business can opt out of Obamacare’s controversial contraception requirement based on religious objections.

The case brought by Hobby Lobby, an Oklahoma-based arts and crafts chain with about 13,000 employees, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Pennsylvania cabinet maker, challenged the Affordable Health Care Act requirement that employees provide free contraception coverage, including abortion-inducing drugs.

Hobby Lobby’s argument was based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, which protects the individual beliefs of citizens.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/supreme-court-rules-in-hobby-lobby-vs-obamacare/#WXidkHoPdqB6DLEk.99

Obama slapped down as Supreme Court Rules Employers Don't Have to Cover Birth Control

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a limited decision, ruled Monday that closely held, for-profit companies can claim a religious exemption to the Obamacare requirement that they provide health insurance coverage for contraceptives.

For-profit corporations — including Conestoga Wood of Pennsylvania, owned by a family of Mennonite Christians, and Hobby Lobby, a family-owned chain of arts and crafts stores founded on Biblical principles — had challenged a provision of the Affordable Care Act.

It requires companies with more than 50 employees to cover preventive care services, which include such contraceptives as morning-after pills, diaphragms and IUDs.

Image nbcnews.com

Developments in Religious Freedom and Employment Law

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