A Win For Hobby Lobby, And What It Means

The Hobby Lobby ruling and a big term for the Supreme Court. We’ll unpack the decisions.

To the Greens of Oklahoma, it was just logical.  Yes, they were billionaires.  Yes, their Hobby Lobby chain employed thousands of people.  But why would they cover contraception that their religious belief found offensive?  To many others, the logic ran just the other way.  The Affordable Care Act offered health care to all.  Contraception included.  Why would a woman be subject to the religion of Boss Green? Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled for the Greens, for Hobby Lobby, for the religious rights of the company.  This hour On Point:  the high court, Hobby Lobby, and religion in the workplace.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Joan Biskupic, legal affairs correspondent for Reuters. Author of "American Original" and "Sandra Day O'Connor." (@JoanBiskupic)

Elizabeth Sepper, law professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Richard Garnett, professor of law and political science at Notre Dame University. (@RickGarnett)

David Van Biema, contributor for TIME Magazine. Author of "Mother Teresa: The Life and Works of a Modern Saint." (@DavidVanBiema)

Reuters: U.S. justices uphold firms' religious objections to contraception — "In a 5-4 vote on ideological lines, the justices said that such companies can seek an exemption from the so-called birth control mandate of the law known as Obamacare. The decision, which applies only to companies owned by a small number of individuals, means employees of those companies will have to obtain certain forms of birth control from other sources."

POLITICO: SCOTUS ignites Obamacare, contraception fight -- "What matters is that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Obama administration overreached on one of the most sensitive cultural controversies in modern politics. And in doing so, the justices have given the Affordable Care Act one more setback that it didn’t need heading into the mid-term elections."

TIME Magazine: Hobby Lobby’s Contraception Showdown — "Normally, when three generations of the Green family meet, it is for one of two joyful purposes: an Oklahoma City Thunder game (a luxury suite is one of the few perks the billionaire family allows itself) or a monthly gathering to decide how to donate the tens of millions of dollars it gives away annually. Two years ago, though, the mood was somber. The topic was whether the Greens—the only shareholders in the $3 billion, 626-store Hobby Lobby arts-and-crafts ­empire—should take on the Obama Administration."