.
Posted on 05/27/2013 8:58:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Hobby Lobby's case for exemption from a part of the Affordable Care Act that requires religious employers to cover Plan B and Ella One emergency contraceptives that can cause early abortion was argued in court on Thursday.
An eight-judge panel (one judge was absent) in the 10th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver, Colo., granted the Oklahoma City-based arts-and-crafts chain a full court hearing, which Hobby Lobby's attorneys' believe is significant because a full-court hearing is rarely granted. "It's a very rare step, because the nine-judge panel hears the most significant cases," said Lori Windham, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who's one of six attorneys working on behalf of Hobby Lobby.
Kyle Duncan, general counsel for The Becket Fund, argued the case Thursday for the Green family, who own Hobby Lobby and the Christian bookstore Mardel, in Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius, and the government was represented by the Justice Department. Each side had 30 minutes to present their arguments to the court.
Windham told CP that the appellate court usually takes several months to make its decision, but they're hopeful the ruling will be expeditious because on July 1 the mandate will kick-in and Hobby Lobby will begin accruing penalties that could amount to $1.3 million a day, which is why they're asking the court to act quickly.
If Hobby Lobby loses its case, Windham said the next step will be to argue the case before the Supreme Court, although her team is confident the court's decision will be in their favor.
"This is a very important case because what's at stake here is whether you have to give up your religious beliefs if you go into business and whether the government can take your religious freedom away," Windham said. "The government has said the mandate is not a substantial burden on the Green family, but they're clearly wrong."
A lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice argued that allowing for-profit corporations to exempt themselves from requirements that violate their religious beliefs would be tantamount to businesses imposing their beliefs on employees, according to Fox News.
Duncan believes the government is taking the position that if you're in a profit-driven business, you have no rights. "Business owners ought to be able to go into a court and argue that their rights should be protected," Duncan said. "This case is at the forefront of the challenge to the mandate."
"Hobby Lobby has no objections to most contraceptives," Duncan added. "They're objecting to a narrow subset of drugs – sometimes called emergency contraceptives – that violates their belief that life should be protected from the moment of conception. The government admits that these drugs can act that way – to put newly conceived life at risk."
"The only issue here is whether Hobby Lobby and the Green family can be forced to violate their religious beliefs to cover this narrow subset of drugs, or whether the government can threaten them with draconian penalties to force them to give up their faith.
According to the Becket Fund website, there are 52 separate lawsuits challenging the Health and Human Services mandate.
Although the 10th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals is a nine-judge panel, the case was heard by only eight judges because one judge has senior status and is semi-retired.
Is it true that Muslims are exempt?
It’s important to remind the low or ill-informed that it was the separation of government from getting into peoples religion that Jefferson was talking about. Not the other way around.
.
> Is it true that Muslims are exempt?
Yes, but the Amish and Mennonites are also exempt (not intended as yet another Amish joke).
I personally hold all democrat politicians and their rino cohorts and the liberal supreme court judges as well as the evil one, Justice John Roberts, and believe that they are guilty of espionage and treason against the citizens and Constitution of America. All democrats and all rinos who support the obamnation should be put out of office and sent overseas to the nations they have originally came out of as they support unconstitutional policies and laws.
What is the justification for these exemptions. Why is it limited to these groups?
It is not just limited to these groups.
We belonged to Christian Healthcare Ministries, a Christian Healthcare cost sharing operation (NOT insurance) that is allowed in lieu of Obamacare.
Forget Muslims. How are “big” corporations like McD’s and GE exempt? I’m no lawyer, but I would think the fact that 1800 exemptions have been passed out has to violate the equal protection under the law clause.
> What is the justification for these exemptions. Why is it
> limited to these groups?
The Amish and Mennonites do not use insurance, because it violates their religious conscience. This is a formal teaching of their church.
The exemption is disallowed for those outside of groups that formally teach against insurance, because you may be able to just say it’s a matter of religious conscience, when in fact, it’s not.
There is also an exemption for those who can demonstrate participation in an alternative that is deemed viable by the governing authorities. Participation in Samaritans, for example, is exempt from 0bamao care.
All that being said, I vigorously disagree that the government should be allowed to compel anybody to buy anything, regardless if the brainy elites think it’s “for their own good.”
May God bless Hobby Lobby with a victory.
equal protection.... lol, your killing me with these jokes!
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
And yet they buy all of their crap from China, giving millions to a Commie country that performs mandatory abortions.
I guess their religous beliefs stop at the US border.
“And yet they buy all of their crap from China, giving millions to a Commie country that performs mandatory abortions.”
What of Catholics/Christians who do the same?
The business operators could open their factories here in the USA. Sure, that would mean that the costs of goods may be a little higher, and the profit margin a little lower, but at least they wouldn’t be hypocrites by blasting US policy and at the same time supporting China’s.
The ragheads are exempt. Odumbo’s religion will always get an exemption.
This will go nowhere. The courts are fully complicit with the evil.
RE: I vigorously disagree that the government should be allowed to compel anybody to buy anything
Justice Roberts already said you are not being compelled to buy healthcare. You are simply being TAXED for not doing so.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.