Hobby Lobby Explained

Last updated on: August 22, 2014 at 4:05 pm by George G. Coe

Hobby Lobby Explained 2014-08-22T16:05:58-05:00 George G. Coe

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What is Hobby Lobby? A chain of arts and crafts stores. Based in Oklahoma City. Privately held and has about 578 stores throughout the US. It has over 23,000 employees and it is one of the largest privately held companies in the country.

Why did Hobby Lobby Sue? The store’s owners are upset with part of the Affordable Care Act that has to do with covering contraceptives with insurance.

According to this article from the Washington Post, the owners “don’t have a problem with offering insurance that covers most forms of birth control, but they aren’t willing to cover emergency contraceptives — like Plan B or ella — or IUDs.”

What’s this Got to do with Religious Freedom? According to the Post, “Hobby Lobby contends its ‘religious beliefs prohibit them from providing health coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices that end human life after conception.’

What is the broader question here? Do profit-making companies have a right to religious freedom under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act? Or, as the Religion News Service notes, “can a corporation be said to have religious practices?”

What is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act: This 1993 Act (signed by President Clinton) restricts the government from curbing your religious freedom UNLESS it has “a compelling reason that not doing so would keep it from governing properly.” And, notes the Religion News Service, “it must do so in the least intrusive way possible.”

What did the Supreme Court Decide? The decision was not unanimous. It was 5-4 and it sided with Hobby Lobby. Here’s how the New York Times summed it up: “The court ruled that corporations controlled by religious families cannot be required to pay for contraception coverage for their female workers.”

What’s the Big Deal? According to the Religion News Service, it “means the courts might see a lot more challenges from for-profit corporations to laws they feel conflict with their owners’ religious beliefs.”

Which Justices Supported Hobby Lobby?

What did the Justices Who Dissented Say? Justice Ginsburg said, according to the NY Times, “The court’s expansive notion of corporate personhood, invites for-profit entities to seek religion-based exemptions from regulations they deem offensive to their faiths.”

Hip Hughes explains the Court decision in this entertaining clip. Hughes made a series of documentaries for US History too.

Finally, here are some interesting stories for and against the decision.

Verdict, Legal Analysis and Commentary from Justia has an interesting article called “What’s Really Wrong With the Decisions in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Burwell?”
The Washington Post has story called “The left’s hysteria over the Hobby Lobby decision”
The National review has a story called “Feminists Whine About the Hobby Lobby Decision”
Excellent review of the major “takeaways” of the decision drom the federalist called 5 Major Takeaways From The Hobby Lobby Decision
From Religion Dispatches, Hobby Lobbying: How Corporations got Consciences

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