The questions before the court focus on two key areas — whether corporations have a constitutional right to the free exercise of religion, and whether a 1993 law backed by both parties in Congress and signed by President Clinton was designed to insulate religiously devout owners from laws and government mandates like President Obama’s. The circuit court decisions leading up to the Supreme Court arguments offer starkly different views of whether the religious rights and protections regularly afforded to individuals should extend to for-profit corporations. The 10th Circuit pointed to Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the 2010 Supreme Court case that allowed corporations to spend millions of dollars on campaign advertising through super PACs, citing their rights to free speech. “We see no reason the Supreme Court would recognize constitutional protection for a corporation’s political expression but not its religious expression,” the majority wrote in the 10th Circuit decision. The court also held that Hobby Lobby, owned by the Green family, should be shielded by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 because it would be “substantially burdened” by the government’s mandate. The court said Congress did not appear to differentiate between individuals and for-profit entities when it enacted the law. Meanwhile, the Obama administration and its supporters have defended the rule as a women’s health issue. They say an adverse ruling from the court would dramatically recast the extent to which secular for-profit entities can incorporate religious beliefs into their businesses operations. Read more: washingtontimes/news/2014/mar/23/supreme-court-to-weigh-religious-rights-of-corpora/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS#ixzz2wt2an21n Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 13:31:47 +0000
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