The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Hobby Lobby, ruling that the birth-control requirement violated the owners of the company's religious freedom. Now the nation's highest court will consider the issue.
Want to get crafty? The renegade crafters will gather at 10 a.m. in the park across from the Judicial Building, at 14th and Lincoln.The Oklahoma based Hobby Lobby has more than 600 stores, all closed on Sunday. Here's the background from the company website:
At Hobby Lobby, we value our customers and employees and are committed to:Read more about Hobby Lobby's position here. Keep reading for more on Sibelius v. Hobby Lobby...and messages for John Suthers. Here's the take from the Alliance for Justice:Honoring the Lord in all we do by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles. Offering our customers exceptional selection and value in the crafts and home decor market. Serving our employees and their families by establishing a work environment and company policies that build character, strengthen individuals and nurture families. Providing a return on the owner's investment, sharing the Lord's blessings with our employees, and investing in our community.
We believe that it is by God's grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured. He has been faithful in the past, and we trust Him for our future.
The Affordable Care Act requires health insurance plans to provide all Americans with access to preventive care without out-of-pocket costs. For women, that care includes access to common forms of birth control.From our archives: "Little Sisters of the Poor's court challenge to Obamacare's contraception mandate"Nonprofit religious organizations, such as houses of worship, are exempt on the theory that the requirement might contradict the religious missions of the institutions themselves.
But now two private for-profit corporations, Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties, are arguing before the Supreme Court that, solely because their owners say they have religious objections to some forms of birth control, the corporations should be allowed to inflict their religious beliefs on all of their employees by refusing to cover birth control in employer provided health insurance. Other businesses have brought similar suits.
The businesses cite the First Amendment and a law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which prohibits a government action that places a substantial burden on an individual's religious practice unless there is a compelling government interest in that action....
If the Supreme Court agrees, it will radically reinterpret federal law - and potentially the United States Constitution. It will be saying, in effect, not only that corporations are people, but that they are people who can impose burdens on others based on what the boss proclaims are the corporation's religious beliefs. That could open the floodgates to denying not only contraception, but all sorts of other rights and benefits to Americans from every walk of life.
