The stage is set to determine whether the U.S. Supreme Court will expand its effort to out-do Dr. Frankenstein. On November 26, 2013, the court decided to review the case of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services. Hobby Lobby is seeking a religious exemption from providing health care coverage to its employees for contraception medicine under the 2010 Affordable Care Act (so-called "Obamacare," even though it is based on a law developed by Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts). The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Hobby Lobby Stores has rights to a religious exemption under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, even though it is a corporation, not an actual person. Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in 1993, in response to a 1990 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that denied unemployment benefits to members of the Native American Church who used peyote as part of their religious ceremonies. RFRA was tailored to protect Native American and all other religious practices from government infringement. RFRA says that the federal government "shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion" unless that burden is "the least restrictive means of furthering [a] compelling governmental interest." Hobby Lobby takes the position that RFRA gives a corporation the same rights to religious freedom it does for individuals, and that that the corporation is "substantially burdened" by the contraceptive-coverage requirement of the Affordable Care Act. The 10th Circuit agreed with Hobby Lobby and overruled the federal district court, which held that even closely held family corporations like Hobby Lobby do not have "religious freedom."Get the Story:
Peter d'Errico: The Supreme Court Is Building a Frankenstein Monster (Indian Country Today 1/6)
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