Cowboy Byte
12/30/2012
In a legal argument formally presented in federal court in the case of Hobby Lobby v. Kathleen Sebelius, the Obama administration is claiming that the First Amendment—which expressly denies the government the authority to prohibit the “free exercise” of religion—nonetheless allows it to force Christians to directly violate their religious beliefs even on a matter that involves the life and death of innocent human beings.
Because federal judges—including Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor—have refused to grant an injunction protecting the owners of Hobby Lobby from being forced to act against their Christian faith, those owners will be subject to federal fines of up to $1.3 million per day starting Tuesday for refusing to include abortion-inducing drugs in their employee health plan.
Related: Sotomayor rejects Hobby Lobby request for injunction on HHS mandate
The fight against the HHS contraception mandate and to protect the freedom of religious expression reached the Supreme Court yesterday … briefly, anyway. Justice Sonia Sotomayor rejected an emergency request for an injunction to prevent HHS from enforcing the contraception mandate on Hobby Lobby’s Catholic owners, but even Sotomayor acknowledged that they may win on the merits when the full appeal is heard:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to block the Obama administration’s contraception mandate from taking effect.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor rejected a request for an emergency injunction that would have shielded employers from the mandate.
The request was filed by Hobby Lobby, an arts-and-crafts chain. The company’s Catholic owners say the contraception mandate violates their religious freedom.
Hobby Lobby might eventually win on that point, Sotomayor said, but the company didn’t meet the standard for an injunction blocking the mandate from taking effect…
Read the whole thing.
Update: How far we’ve fallen when the biggest resistance to tyranny is done by arts and crafts stores.
