Hobby Lobby Files Supreme Court Brief

Hobby Lobby, the arts and crafts business owned by the evangelical Green family, has filed a brief to the Supreme Court requesting an exemption from the Obamacare HHS mandate requiring them to provide health care plans that include contraceptive coverage. In the brief, the company argues that forcing them to pay for four forms of contraception the Green family believes ends human life would violate their religious beliefs and violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby on March 25. Previously, Hobby Lobby’s request for an injunction had been denied by a district court, only to be overturned in a 4-3 ruling by the full 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Late last month, a remarkable coalition of religious and secular interests filed amicus curiae briefs in support of Hobby Lobby, with the number of supportive briefs outnumbering the opposition 2 to 1.

The brief argues that the HHS mandate represents, “one of the most straightforward violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act this Court is likely to see. Respondents’ religious beliefs prohibit them from providing contraceptive drugs and devices that end human life after conception. Yet, the government mandate at issue here compels them to do just that, or face crippling fines, private lawsuits, and government enforcement.”

In a press release, Hobby Lobby’s counsel and General Counsel for the Becket Fund Kyle Duncan declared that the brief “brings into even sharper focus the issue at the heart of this landmark case: No one should be forced to give up their constitutionally protected civil rights just to go into business.”

The Obama administration argues that for-profit corporations can not receive religious liberty protections, since they do not “practice” religion in any meaningful sense. Furthermore, it argues that the contraception mandate serves a compelling government interest to provide women with healthcare options that overrules any valid religious liberty claims.

But in a conference call with reporters, Duncan responded that it was “common sense” that business owners run their businesses according to their moral principles. He cited the example of CVS recently deciding to stop selling cigarettes, after the company leadership realized it was in opposition to their goal of caring for their customer’s health. That decision was lauded by President Obama, Duncan noted, demonstrating that the President thinks companies taking moral stances should be encouraged.

As for the women’s health issue, Duncan stressed that the Greens were already providing their employees with healthcare plans that covered 16 of the 20 mandated contraceptives, and that they were only concerned about form of contraception they believed could terminate a pregnancy.

Duncan also noted that the Obama administration continues to provide lesser exemptions to others. “The federal government has exempted millions of people, millions of insurance plans from having to cover any contraceptives in any women’s preventive services,” said Duncan. His point was perhaps unintentionally bolstered by yesterday’s news that the Obama administration is now delaying the employer mandate for medium-sized businesses until 2016, a decision that will no doubt deny countless women the contraception coverage the administration argues is essential.

Hobby Lobby’s appeal is being considered by the Supreme Court concurrently with a similar appeal from the Menonnite-owned Conestego Wood. The Becket Fund calculates that there have been 93 lawsuits have been filed against the contraception mandate, with 90% of the cases winning relief.