Ken Starr: Obamacare shackles religious freedom
March 23, 2014
USA Today
The Hobby Lobby case could deal blow to people of faith.
From humble beginnings in the 1970s in their Oklahoma City garage, David and Barbara Green launched what is now the sprawling nationwide commercial enterprise, Hobby Lobby. Their company – now owned entirely by five members of the Green family – is now at the epicenter of an important legal battle over the breathtaking reach of the Affordable Care Act. At issue is whether – due to the Greens' deeply held religious objections – the Hobby Lobby owners have an enforceable freedom-of-conscience right not to provide several contraceptive methods (four out of the 20 ACA-required methods) to the crafts company's employees. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in this closely watched case on March 25.
COLUMN: Obamacare challenge could empower discriminators
Had the Greens not incorporated Hobby Lobby, they would likely win the case hands down and leave the Supreme Court's marble palace with a federally granted exemption from Obamacare's sweeping regulations. That's because of another statute passed by Congress (by an overwhelming majority) back in 1993. Signed into law by President Clinton, and appropriately dubbed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), this far-reaching measure requires the federal government to provide a very strong ("compelling") justification for imposing a regulatory requirement that "substantially burdens" the free exercise of religion.
To the Greens, all five of whom are devout evangelical Christians, requiring the Hobby Lobby employee benefits plan to include four contraceptive methods which they view (with substantial empirical support) as abortifacients is morally repugnant. Their religious freedom claim carried the day in the federal Court of Appeals in Denver, but the Obama Administration has fought the case all the way to the nation's highest court.
For the rest, see:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/03/23/hobby-lobby-sebelius-obamacare-contraception-mandate-column/6574699/
March 23, 2014
USA Today
The Hobby Lobby case could deal blow to people of faith.
From humble beginnings in the 1970s in their Oklahoma City garage, David and Barbara Green launched what is now the sprawling nationwide commercial enterprise, Hobby Lobby. Their company – now owned entirely by five members of the Green family – is now at the epicenter of an important legal battle over the breathtaking reach of the Affordable Care Act. At issue is whether – due to the Greens' deeply held religious objections – the Hobby Lobby owners have an enforceable freedom-of-conscience right not to provide several contraceptive methods (four out of the 20 ACA-required methods) to the crafts company's employees. The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in this closely watched case on March 25.
COLUMN: Obamacare challenge could empower discriminators
Had the Greens not incorporated Hobby Lobby, they would likely win the case hands down and leave the Supreme Court's marble palace with a federally granted exemption from Obamacare's sweeping regulations. That's because of another statute passed by Congress (by an overwhelming majority) back in 1993. Signed into law by President Clinton, and appropriately dubbed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), this far-reaching measure requires the federal government to provide a very strong ("compelling") justification for imposing a regulatory requirement that "substantially burdens" the free exercise of religion.
To the Greens, all five of whom are devout evangelical Christians, requiring the Hobby Lobby employee benefits plan to include four contraceptive methods which they view (with substantial empirical support) as abortifacients is morally repugnant. Their religious freedom claim carried the day in the federal Court of Appeals in Denver, but the Obama Administration has fought the case all the way to the nation's highest court.
For the rest, see:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/03/23/hobby-lobby-sebelius-obamacare-contraception-mandate-column/6574699/
No comments:
Post a Comment