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In an argument that touched on medical science and moral philosophy, the Supreme Court on Tuesday wrestled with whether corporations may refuse to provide insurance coverage for contraception to their workers based on the religious beliefs of the corporations’ owners. --snip-- Hobby Lobby told the justices that it had no problem offering coverage for many forms of contraception, including condoms, diaphragms, sponges, several kinds of birth control pills and sterilization surgery. But drugs and devices that may prevent embryos from implanting in the womb are another matter, the company said; its owners believe those would make the company complicit in...

Senator Ted Cruz with Cavuto speaking about the IMF in the Ukraine aid package and Hobby Lobby issue before SCOTUS.

Ted Cruz gave a great speech today in a surprise appearance at the Supreme Court, supporting the cause of Hobby Lobby and reminding people of the importance of our God-given right of religious freedom and why it is protected in our Constitution. He also predicted that the Supreme Court would strike down the contraceptive mandate and rule in favor of Hobby Lobby. Watch the full speech below:

During oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday which focused on whether the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act violates the free exercise of religion, Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan suggested employers who have moral objections to birth control should not provide health care coverage for their employees Chief Justice Roberts interjected that this was in opposition to what Hobby Lobby presented in its lawsuit. “I thought – I thought that part of the religious commitment of the owners was to provide health care for its employees,” Roberts said and Clements agreed. “Well, if they want...

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will begin hearing oral arguments in two high profile cases regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. The two cases are Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius. These two cases deal with the religious freedom aspects of the ACA and how it applies to individual businesses. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) issued a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas offering his continuing support for the two companies who have taken the federal government to court. "The Supreme Court has the opportunity to affirm our...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/03/24/hobby-lobby-obamacare-contraception-supreme-court-column/6838853/

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court appeared poised on Tuesday to open the door to companies' religious-based objections to government regulations as justices weighed whether business owners can object to part of President Barack Obama's healthcare law. It was unclear whether the companies objecting to the regulation requiring them to provide insurance coverage that includes contraception would win overall, but a majority of the nine justices seemed ready to rule that companies had the same religious rights to object as individuals do. In one of the biggest cases of the year, the court heard an extended 90-minute oral argument,...

Not too long ago, the Greens of Oklahoma City were law-abiding people running an arts-and-crafts chain called Hobby Lobby. They weren’t disturbing the peace, or denying anyone his or her rights. They were minding their own business — quite successfully and in keeping with their Christian faith. The roughly 600 Hobby Lobby stores stock Christian products, close on Sundays, and play Christian music. Then one day Uncle Sam showed up to make an offer that the Greens couldn’t refuse — literally. As part of Obamacare, federal law demands that the chain cover contraceptives that the Greens consider abortifacients. The family...

I didn’t attend this morning’s argument and will therefore reserve my own reading of the tea leaves until after I’ve reviewed the transcript. For what it’s worth, one person who did attend and who is very knowledgeable about the issues in the case (but who might suffer from an overly optimistic temperament) has given me his quick take. He sees a 6-3 victory for Hobby Lobby, with Kennedy and Breyer joining the conservatives on the bottom line. (Apparently, Breyer’s questions reflected his recognition that—as I discussed in this post—the accommodation that the Obama administration provided religious nonprofits is a less...

Lawyer Paul Clement, representing the challengers, received little time to offer opening remarks on his position before the court jumped in with questions. Justice Sonia Sotomayor got things started with this: If corporations can object on religious grounds to providing contraception coverage, could they also object to vaccinations or blood transfusions?

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday in a landmark religion-based legal challenge from family-owned companies that object to covering certain contraceptives in their health plans under ObamaCare. The case challenges the health care law's so-called "contraceptive mandate," which requires employers to offer health plans with a range of services at no extra charge, including all forms of birth control for women that have been approved by federal regulators. Some of the nearly 50 businesses that have sued over covering contraceptives object to paying for all forms of birth control. But the companies involved in the high court case are...

The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the most prominent case yet pitting some Americans' religious rights against Obamacare's edicts Tuesday. Some say Obamacare is forcing business owners who believe abortion is a sin to pay for contraception that will terminate life in the womb. Others warn if the justices side with those business owners, it could lead to all sorts of business owners using religion to try to dodge all sorts of laws. Hobby Lobby's owners have lived out their religious beliefs through the store chain for decades, like keeping all Hobby Lobbys closed on Sundays. They company is...

Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. CST the oral arguments will commence in the second significant challenge to come before the Supreme Court concerning the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In one of the most consequential cases of the year there are two sweeping questions that potentially will be answered by the Court. Are private, for-profit corporations afforded the right to “freely exercise” religion? If so, to what extent does that prevent government intrusion? The two cases being heard, Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, raise issues concerning the First Amendment’s free exercise clause and whether the...

Clinton nostalgists look back on the occasionally picayune controversies of that time — State of the Union endorsements of school uniforms — and conclude that such trivia were a sign of national health, of things being so good that we had nothing more important to debate. Subsequent events ranging from 9/11 to the mortgage meltdown suggest that there was rather more impressing business to be taken care of in the 1990s, but our political leaders were too short-sighted to appreciate it. Similarly, the fact that the Supreme Court is being asked to review the manner in which Hobby Lobby manages...

“[A]round the world[,] freedom of religion is under threat. … We see governments engaging in discrimination … against the faithful. … We, therefore, believe in the inherent dignity of every human being — dignity that no earthly power can take away. And central to that dignity is freedom of religion — the right of every person to practice their faith how they choose … and to do this free from persecution and fear. … [H]istory shows that nations that uphold the rights of their people — including the freedom of religion — are ultimately more just and more peaceful and...

The U.S. Justice Department is telling the Supreme Court that killing a human embryo by preventing the embryo from implanting in his or her mother’s uterus is not an “abortion” and, thus, drugs that kill embryos this way are not “abortion-inducing” drugs. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby. The crux of the administration’s argument in this case is that when Christians form a corporation they give up the right to freely exercise their religion—n.b. live according to their Christian beliefs—in the way they run their business. It is in...

An excellent political analysis of the law cited by Hobby Lobby in its objection to complying with Obamacare's (officially known as the ACA) birth control provision was published by msnbc. Fox News made a glancing reference to the law, known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA), preferring to confine its article to current issues versus historical intent. I went back to the language of the law itself. In an aside, it is stunning that the law being used to unravel possibly a large swath of Obamacare's mandate is less than two pages long.  The ACA itself claims...

Bishop Egan“When people are not in communion with the Catholic Church on such a central thing as the value of life of the unborn child and also in terms of the teachings of the church on marriage and family life – they are voting in favour of same-sex marriage – then they shouldn’t be receiving Holy Communion.”.Bishop Egan explained that rather than a punitive measure, the denial of Holy Communion is “always an act of mercy.”  It is done, he said, “with the hope and prayer that that person can be wooed back into full communion with the Church.”“Nobody is...

NORMAN, Okla. -- On Thursday, in a clear indicator of the importance of the case Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., the Supreme Court issued an order expanding the time allotted for oral argument in front of the Court to 90 minutes instead of the previously appropriated 60 minutes. Representing Hobby Lobby will be who Business Insider has termed the “LeBron James of Lawyers”, Paul D. Clement. He is a veteran of the Supreme Court with recent appearances in the challenge to the “individual mandate” portion of the ACA,as well as representing the Republican House of Representatives in the Defense...

President Obama’s signature healthcare law is headed back to the Supreme Court in a high-stakes case that could redefine the limits of religious freedom in the United States. The high court on Tuesday will hear challenges to ObamaCare’s contentious “birth control mandate,” which requires companies to offer contraceptive services to workers as part of their insurance coverage. If successful, the challenge could peel away a significant portion of the mandate, potentially affecting preventive health coverage for millions of women and striking a major blow to the law itself. But the court’s ruling could also have far-reaching implications for religious liberty...