After hearing arguments Friday, U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton issued an order temporarily exempting Hobby Lobby from complying with the contraception benefit in the Affordable Care Act, which requires it to offer insurance coverage for the morning-after pill and similar birth control or face steep fines. The ruling moves the national fight over the constitutionality of the contraception benefit a significant step closer to the Supreme Court, but also shows a deep divide within the federal judiciary over whether or not corporations have constitutional religious rights.
The terse, four-page order is the first to flatly bar the federal government from enforcing any part of the contraceptive benefit in the federal health-care law. Judge Heaton, who earlier had turned down an identical request by Hobby Lobby to delay enforcement (his request was overturned by the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals), took the opportunity to jab back at the court of appeals, holding that Hobby Lobby had “newly recognized religious rights” that drove much of the conclusion to block enforcement, despite his earlier order refusing to do so. These “newly recognized religious rights,” Heaton’s order makes clear, stem from the Tenth Circuit’s ruling that business firms can take on the religious views of their owners and then exercise those rights on their own in the way they conduct their business operations.
Judge Heaton made clear that, thanks to the Tenth Circuit’s ruling, he had very little choice other than to grant Hobby Lobby’s request to block the benefit.
Damn do I find THIS troubling.
So if, as the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals contends, business firms can take on the religious views of their owners what stops a business owned by Muslims to demand that all of their female employees wear Hijabs or even cover themselves completely?
What stops a Jehovah's Witness business owner from mandating that there be no mention, or celebrating of birthdays or Christmas on the premises due to their belief that they are pagan customs?
Or for that matter if a business is to be an extension of the owner's religious faith, what stops them from discriminating against those of other faiths?
I guess Mitt Romney was right, "Corporations are people my friend."
Like I said, troubling.
Its very simple. Take away all their federal funding for everything. See how soon they want to keep their "religious right" to refuse service when they no longer receive any kind of federal support and that means Medicare/Medicade reimbursements. They don't want to provide that kind of benefit through their insurance? Then they no longer qualify to receive any kind of federal insurance benefit. Just how long would they be able to make a profit then? Just how long would they remain with customers/employees? Not very. Ruh Roh.
ReplyDeletesooooo......corporations have vaginas!!!
ReplyDeleteSo let me get this straight:
ReplyDeleteChic-fil-a is not a homophobic corporation because the owner's viewpoints don't reflect the views of the company...
But Hobby Lobby IS a religious corporation because the owner's viewpoints must reflect the views of the company...
WTF, it's like I'm in Bizarro world.
If you go to Hobby Lobby on a Sunday (at least the one near me), there's a sign on the door saying they are closed so their employees can observe the lord's day (I'm paraphrasing). I haven't been back to hobby lobby in a couple years since finding out the religious activism of the owners. It's a bummer, too, bacause I really liked the store.
Delete10:54 -
DeleteI was thrilled a couple of years ago when Hobby Lobby opened up the first store in my area. My sister had always talked about how great her store was (in another state).
After reading some of the stories about the owners and their discriminatory practices, I no longer shop there.
I opened a Hobby Lobby in my town. One of the reasons I was interested was the fact they are closed on Sundays. Automatic day off. I remember when they repealed the Blue Laws in Texas, my friend said, "freedom for the American consumer" and I said, "slavery for the American retail worker." Working retail will make you lose your faith in humanity. O.o
DeleteI experienced very little overtly religious as an employee. Sure, they play muzak hymns and carry some religious themed items, but the most overt thing I can say I witnessed as an employee was the manager had a rather low-key group prayer prior to the grand opening the store.
It's been a few years, but there are still people there who opened the store with me. They recently told me that they have been REQUIRED to come in on Sundays for resets and stocking. REQUIRED. I was shocked. I could see letting people come in if they want the extra hours, but this company that prides itself on its "religious" values, has violated one of the things I liked about it.
Now they're posturing to be all religious about birth control which is probably a lie as well. Well, stop lying about giving your employees Sunday off then.
Corporations ARE people, my friend, and sometimes they want to impose their narrow minded, restrictive thinking on others. It's one thing for one religious group to preach no sex before marriage, no contraception, no abortion. It's another thing when they impose those beliefs on people who do not believe the same thing. It's even worse when they do it to their employees who may not have any other prospects for a job. It's even worse when they get elected to office and try to make the government do it, too.
ReplyDeleteNancy wrote a blog for Bristol some time ago, describing how Bristol furnished her home a la Hobby Lobby (even though there don't seem to be any Hobby Lobby stores in Alaska. (When caught at the fib, Nancy had to explain that Bristol furnished that big old empty house in Maricopa, Arizona a la Hobby Lobby, then moved all the stuff back to Alaska.) If the rumpled white satin bed with purple pillows is an example of Hobby Lobby's fine furnishings, I have no interest in going there at all.
They have great crafting things, but I wouldn't touch their home furnishings. Actually I don't touch them at all since their religious activism became public knowledge.
DeleteThink how fast this ruling would be overturned if indeed a Muslim-owned chain insisted on female employees wearing the hijab -- OR -- even disallowing the hiring of female employees.
ReplyDeleteWhat's happening to the U.S. is simply pathetic. If only the vast majority of Americans would start recognizing the teavangelicals as the American Taliban....if only.
I agree with you. It might take a situation like you describe for this to change.
DeleteJo-
DeleteEven that wouldn't change things because the religious right doesn't see the parallel. Think about how much screaming we've heard about the threat of sharia law by the very same people who are trying to impose THEIR religious beliefs on all of us.
It's perfectly acceptable if THEY do it but horrible and wrong if someone from a different religion does it.
They are pathologically incapable of recognizing the hypocrisy.
Yes, Al Jazeera, which broadcasts in the US, is a corporation. What if they refuse to honor their employees' non-Islamic holidays? Fox News is largely owned by a Saudi sheik (he is the second-largest shareholder after Murdoch). Should he decide to buy the rest of Fox's stock, what if he then began to make all employee decisions based on sharia law?
DeleteHow can any corporation be a person? Or does the court make a special exception for multi-headed persons? A corporation can have many officers, a large and diverse board of directors, and millions of shareholders. By definition, the concept that a corporation is A person (singular noun) is beyond absurd. The even greater absurdity is the argument that a fictional, man-created body could have a religious conscience. The argument thus indirectly makes a mockery of the concept of religious conscience for the rest of us.
Is anyone else noticing how, as the tea party movement advances, that individual humans have fewer and fewer rights, and faceless corporations have more and more rights? What's wrong with this picture? Which corporations fought in the War of Independence? Which ones sacrificed so that we could obtain the right to vote? Which ones are bleeding and getting maimed in wars that supposedly are for the purpose of protecting the rest of us? Which ones actually prove by their actions that they have a conscience in the first place?
By this rationale businesses shouldn't have to PAY anyone, either, since those wages could be used to purchase contraception, abortion, alcohol, drugs, pornography, etc. i.e. things that conflict with the employer's religious sensibilities.
ReplyDeleteBut, just because the supplied health-care insurance could be used for contraception, doesn't mean that it is required for the recipient to purchase or use contraception.
Perhaps the ruling should be that if an employer has religious objections to supplying health insurance that could be used for contraception then he can decline to offer health insurance, and instead pay a higher wage: an increase large enough for the employee to purchase their own health insurance.
Don't give them any ideas: I have no doubt they will do everything possible to move the line in exactly those directions.
DeleteI think "people" like Hobby Lobby should have to provide proof that their cultural prejudices are actually "religious beliefs." As far as I know there's nothing in the Christian scriptures about contraception. Hobby Lobby isn't a Roman Catholic-owned company, what "religion" are they exactly?
ReplyDeleteI probably will be jumped on for this, even though I think it is a major mistake for ANYONE to be able to opt out, I wonder:
ReplyDeleteI am wondering if this ruling came about because Hobby Lobby is PRIVATELY OWNED?
OT Breaking News
ReplyDeleteLeading NYC mayoral candidate Anthony "Wiener" Wiener has admitted that he continued to send "sexy, sexy, sexy" online messages and nekkid photos for at least a year after resigning from Congress after the behavior was first revealed.
In other news, former mayoral candidate Anthony "Weewee" Wiener has announced a long term plan to 'ride the rails across America as a hobo, in order to find myself and figure out the next chapter in my life after politics".
Wiener's wife Huma has not yet commented on her husband's peccadillo. However, women who have received pics of his peccadillo say "it's nothing special".
This is to be expected, and I presumed it would be the case after he resigned. He has an addiction that, IMO, is impossible to cure. I have a hunch that Pelosi believed this as well, and that that was a big reason behind her trying to usher him out of Congress. Sexual exhibitionism, like other forms of sexual addiction, is mostly untreatable. Weiner should NEVER be trusted in public office: he has proven himself to be uncontrollable, without discretion, untrustworthy, and a serial liar. Believe me, if he does these things behind closed doors, he may well do other (and perhaps worse) things behind closed doors – including betraying the trust of those who elected him to office.
DeleteI feel sorry for Huma (and her child): she is very beautiful, very rich, very smart, and very talented – and she appears to have a stupid, uncontrollable, probably untreatable, and potentially relationship-ruining husband.
While it is frustrating to think that this young lady was attacked with such hate and venom for merely exercising her right to free speech, it’s encouraging to know that these ruthless attacks have not caused Tuesday to back down from what she believes. She took to her blog to express her disappointment in the adults that have been calling her names and slandering her online. Here is how she ended her post:
ReplyDelete'Normally, I prefer to look up to adults as role models. But what is happening in Texas right now it’s hard to find adults who I want to look up to.
I don’t look up to an adult who is taking away a woman’s right to choose.
I don’t look up to an adult who is calling a 14-year-old girl a whore.
I don’t look up to an adult who is screaming in my face and saying I am ugly.
And I certainly don’t look up to anyone who says they are Christian but treats women the way I’ve been treated these past few days as a teenage girl.'
On the bright side, now that she’s seen the true colors of the “pro-life” community, she’s more determined than ever to continue her fight to defend the rights of women in Texas.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/23/anti-abortion-nuts-attack-14-year-old-girl-with-pro-choice-sign-nsfw/
OT Please check out Bristol's latest ghost written post, answering the make-believe questions about her appearance on that Wife Swap thing, a month ago. Either Nancy needs the traffic for that lame website or Bristol has been nursing some really hurt feelings, but they have latched on to this victim thing and they can't let go.
ReplyDeleteToday's post is a report on how Tripp is doing, or what he's not doing. He doesn't sleep in Bristol's bed all the time. He doesn't follow the discipline chart that Melissa set up. Bristol is finally learning to cook and she is learning about that 'motherhood thing.' She should have learned all of this five years ago when she was pregnant. There are books, parenting classes, information on the internet and most important of all, if Tripp had regular play dates with other kids his own age, Bristol could sit and talk to the mothers. That's how we all picked up parenting tips, recipes, news about a good after school program and lots of other information. It is more worthwhile that "putzing" around that dead lake on a boat. (Sarah used that word without knowing what a putz is).
Sadly, Bristol shows narcissistic traits like her mother. She thinks her son is just an extension of herself, and therefore she is entitled to anything that he might afford to her. It's ALL about HER. It's not 'normal' and she will never have normal instincts to protect her child. NEVER. It will ALWAYS be about her. Her victim mentality shows that. And she claims that people are attacking HIM, when they are really pointing out her inadequacies, or shortcomings as a parent. She has learned from her mother how to use her child as a shield.
ReplyDelete"I guess Mitt Romney was right, "Corporations are people my friend.""
ReplyDeleteNice try, Gryphen. Did you really think you could get away with misquoting Mittens, who, by the way, is 12,635th in line to be President of Amercia and 549,712th in line to be King of England?
What he actually said is "IT"S PEOPLE!!! SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE, YOU DAMN DIRTY APES!!!"
Something like that, anyway...
Jehovah's Witnesses think that blood transfusions are against the will of god. I wonder if a business owner who is a JW could get away with providing medical insurance for workers that does not cover blood transfusions.
ReplyDeleteI see absolutely NO difference between that example and the Hobby Lobby position. Both positions are equally insane, unfair, inhumane, and should be laughed out of the courtroom.
Delete