Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby Debacle

By Steven Rosenfeld

June 30, 2014  |  The Supreme Court’s right-wing majority has struck another major blow against women and Obamacare, ruling on Monday that private employers do not have to include contraceptive coverage in employee health plans if the business owners’ religion is opposed to abortion-related services. The ruling, which dissenting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called "extreme" in comments from the bench, affirmed that corporations—not just individuals—possess religious rights and freedoms protected by the First Amendment.

 

“We must decide whether the challenged HHS [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] regulations substantially burden the exercise of religion, and we hold that they do,” wrote Justice Samual Alito, writing for the 5-4 majority. “Government action that imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise must serve a compelling government interest, and we assume that the HHS regulations satisfy this requirement. But in order for the HHS mandate to be sustained, it must also constitute the least restrictive means of serving that interest, and the mandate plainly fails that test.”