The Supreme Court has denied the request made by Hobby Lobby (and Mardel) to put a temporary hold on the portion of the Affordable Care Act called the birth control mandate. This means that Hobby Lobby will be expected to comply with the law when it goes into affect on January 1, 2013.
Hobby Lobby is a chain of craft stores that is owned by the Green family. The CEO is David Green. He, and his family, are evangelical Christians. Mardel is an affiliated company of Hobby Lobby. It was founded by David Green’s son, Mart Green. This chain of stores sells Christian materials, office supplies, and educational products.
On August 1, 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services added a list of women’s health care to the previous list of preventative services. All health plans must cover preventative care without charging a co-pay, coinsurance, or a deductible. This includes coverage for all forms of birth control that had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
To make a long story short, this lead to controversy. It was decided that churches, synagogues, mosques, and places of worship were exempt from the birth control mandate. Religious corporations, hospitals, and universities, however, were not exempt.
In September of 2012, the Green family filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the requirement that all forms of birth control be covered in their employer sponsored health plans. CEO David Green, and his family, felt that offering certain forms of birth control went against their religious beliefs.
Specifically, the Green family wanted to exclude coverage for morning after and week after birth control pills and for intrauterine devices. The Green family believes those forms of birth control are equivalent to abortion. The Food and Drug Administration has classified them as contraception.
U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton denied he request made by Hobby Lobby and Mardel. He said:
Hobby Lobby and Mardel are not religious organizations.
He went on to say:
Plaintiffs have not cited, and the court has not found, any case concluding that secular, for-profit corporations such as Hobby Lobby and Mardel have a constitutional right to the free exercise of religion.
In December of 2012, David Green asked the United States Supreme Court for an emergency injunction that would allow Hobby Lobby and Mardel to opt-out of complying with the birth control mandate. The U.S. Supreme Court has now, officially, denied that request.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor had this to say:
Lower courts have diverged on whether to grand temporary injunctive relief to similarly situated plaintiffs and no court has issued a final decision granting permanent relief with respect to such claims.
In short, the written opinion noted that the Supreme Court has never addressed similar freedom-of-religion claims brought by for-profit corporations objecting to the mandatory provisions of employment benefit laws.
Image by walknboston on Flickr