[Lurking Libertarian]

The root problem IMO is the unexplained overruling of the long-held precedent of Slaughterhouse in Brown v. Board of Education, aiding the massive expansion and threat of federal government power - exactly what Justice Miller feared would happen as stated in his Slaughterhouse opinion.

I don't agree with you about Slaughterhouse, but that's neither here nor there for purposes of this thread: the Fourteenth Amendment has zero to do with today's case, which involves a federal, not a state, statute.

[Talisker]

PapaNew: The root problem IMO is the unexplained overruling of the long-held precedent of Slaughterhouse in Brown v. Board of Education, aiding the massive expansion and threat of federal government power - exactly what Justice Miller feared would happen as stated in his Slaughterhouse opinion.

Lurking Libertarian: I don't agree with you about Slaughterhouse, but that's neither here nor there for purposes of this thread: the Fourteenth Amendment has zero to do with today's case, which involves a federal, not a state, statute.

Not quite - the Hobby Lobby is incorporated at the State level. Thus the definitions involving its identity and existence are reached by the 14th, which in turn describes its relationship with the RFRA. So while it's not a ruling directly dependent on the 14th, the arguments and justifications of the decision are dependent on the 14th, which also describes federal definitions as well. Of all the Amendments, the 14th sits squarely across the federal-State boundaries, in effect uniting them in one extended corporate environment. Which, of course, is its very purpose.