Skip to content
Deacon Keith Fournier Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now >

Hobby Lobby case will affect six other battles over religious freedom

Free World Class Education
FREE Catholic Classes
Supreme Court grants an injunction in Wheaton College case

A furious week of activity in the U.S. Supreme Court is raising the question as to how far the 5-4 decision of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby goes.

Highlights

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
7/8/2014 (9 years ago)

Published in U.S.

Keywords: News, US, Legal

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The decision in the Hobby Lobby case recognized that the owners of closely held corporations have the right to refuse to provide abortion inducing drugs and devices to their employees. Further, that governmental efforts to compel the owners to provide such abortion inducing drugs and devices to their employees violates the Right to Religious Freedom.

Every single life is sacred, even if it has not yet been born.

Just days latter, the Supreme Court used this decision to guide the rulings of six other cases winding through the lower courts. These decisions all favored corporations and institutions seeking religious exemptions from the HHS Mandate to the Affordable Care Act.

These decisions may signal the possibility of challenges to a greater list of government mandates. Many were not aware of this final furry of activity, as the Supreme Court issued its decisions ate on July 3, while many Americans were getting ready to enjoy the long Independence Day holiday weekend.

The court granted an injunction to Wheaton College, a private Christian liberal arts college in Illinois. This means the College will not be forced to violate its Christian commitment or face fines and penalties Act pending a full review of the case.

For Wheaton, winning this case will eliminate numerous fines for refusing to provide contraceptive care and "minimal essential coverage" as part of the Affordable Care Act.

The order granting the injunction does not have any names attached, but three justices were loud in filing a dissent. Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.

These justices wrote that: "Those who are bound by our decisions usually believe they can take us at our word. Not so today. After expressly relying on the availability of the religious-nonprofit accommodation to hold that the contraceptive coverage requirement violates [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act] as applied to closely held for-profit corporations, the Court now, as the dissent in Hobby Lobby feared it might, retreats from that position."

In Wheaton, and in some of the six other rulings on pending cases made that same week, entities that were more than just "closely held" corporations received aid. One of the six cases involved Eden Foods, whose employer claims it poses an undue burden on his religious liberty if the government requires him to buy anything for his employees, whether it is "Jack Daniel's or birth control."

---


'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'


Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online

Join the Movement
When you sign up below, you don't just join an email list - you're joining an entire movement for Free world class Catholic education.

Prayer of the Day logo
Saint of the Day logo

We ask you, humbly: don't scroll away.

Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you.

Help Now >

Catholic Online Logo

Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. All materials contained on this site, whether written, audible or visual are the exclusive property of Catholic Online and are protected under U.S. and International copyright laws, © Copyright 2024 Catholic Online. Any unauthorized use, without prior written consent of Catholic Online is strictly forbidden and prohibited.

Catholic Online is a Project of Your Catholic Voice Foundation, a Not-for-Profit Corporation. Your Catholic Voice Foundation has been granted a recognition of tax exemption under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Federal Tax Identification Number: 81-0596847. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law.