Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Corporations are people! And can believe in God!

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Corporations are people! And can believe in God!

    (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court signaled on Tuesday it may allow corporations to mount religious objections to government action, possibly paving the way for companies to avoid covering employees' birth control as required under Obamacare.

    During a 90-minute oral argument, 30 minutes more than usual, a majority of the nine justices appeared ready to rule that certain for-profit entities have the same religious rights to object as individuals do. A ruling along those lines would likely only apply to closely held companies.

    As in most close cases of late, Justice Anthony Kennedy will likely be the deciding vote. Based on his questions, it was unclear whether the court would ultimately rule that the companies had a right to an exemption from the contraception provision of President Barack Obama's 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

    The dozens of companies involved in the litigation do not all oppose every type of birth control. Some object only to emergency contraceptive methods, such as the so-called morning-after pill, which they view as akin to abortion.

    The case marks the second time Obamacare has featured prominently before the Supreme Court. In 2012, the court upheld by a 5-4 vote the constitutionality of the act's core feature requiring people to get health insurance.

    Although the case has no bearing on the overall healthcare law, it features its own volatile mix of religious rights and reproductive rights. A capacity crowd filled the marble courtroom, while outside hundreds of demonstrators, most of them women, protested loudly in an early spring snowstorm.

    The challengers are arts-and-crafts retailer Hobby Lobby Stores Inc, run by evangelical Christians, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, which is run by a Mennonite family. They sued under a 1993 law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

    "We believe that Americans don't lose their religious freedoms when they open a family business," Barbara Green, one of Hobby Lobby's owners, told reporters after the hearing. "We were encouraged by today's arguments."

    'OUT OF THE WOODWORK'

    Liberal-leaning justices and the government said that allowing companies to make claims could lead to a swathe of challenges to government regulations, from Social Security to health coverage for immunizations.

    "If your argument were adopted ... then you would see religious objectors come out of the woodwork with respect to all of these laws," Justice Elena Kagan told lawyer Paul Clement, who argued before the court on behalf of the companies.

    The conservative members of the court did not seem convinced. Chief Justice John Roberts said the ruling could be limited to closely held companies. That outcome would "avoid all the problems" raised by the government concerning how to determine if a company has a valid claim, such as a situation in which some shareholders have religious objections but not others, Roberts said.

    His conservative colleagues, including Samuel Alito and Kennedy, seemed to share that view.

    "If you say they can't even get their day in court, you are saying something pretty, pretty strong," Alito told Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, the Obama administration's lawyer.

    Kennedy hinted at his views in another exchange with Verrilli over whether in a hypothetical situation a for-profit corporation, such as a medical provider, would not be able to object if the government required it to carry out abortions.

    Verrilli told the justices that the court would be "skating on thin constitutional ice" if the companies won an exemption because of the impact it would have on women employees. That view appeared to be shared by Kagan, one of three women on the court. When an employer refuses to provide the coverage, a female employee is "quite directly, quite tangibly harmed," Kagan said.

    BIRTH CONTROL ISSUE

    On the question of whether the companies can ultimately win their claim on the birth control provision, Kennedy hinted at some sympathy for the government. He wondered whether the objecting companies might have alternative means to avoid providing the coverage. Rather than face fines for not providing the contraception coverage, might they instead be able to pay employees more to buy their own health insurance, thereby circumventing their religious objections?

    "How is the employer hurt? He can just raise the wages," Kennedy asked Clement.

    Kennedy was seizing on similar comments made by liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor and Kagan. Kagan noted that if a company were to drop its health insurance, it would face a $2,000 per employee tax under Obamacare, which would cost roughly the same as providing health insurance.

    The 2012 case overshadowed the proceedings on several occasions during the argument, with Kennedy, one of the justices in the minority who voted to strike down the law, joking to Verrilli, who won the earlier case, that perhaps the court should take another look at the entire healthcare law.

    "Well, I think it has been examined, your honor," Verrilli said to laughter in the courtroom.

    A short distance from the Supreme Court, Obamacare faced a separate legal challenge, which, if it succeeds, would further undermine the 2010 law considered to be the President's signature domestic policy achievement.

    A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit appeared divided as it heard arguments from businesses in states with federally run health insurance exchanges who said the government was overstepping the authority of the law in providing subsidies on the exchange.

    The cases are Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 13-354, 13-356.

    (Additional reporting by Joan Biskupic, Julia Edwards, David Ingram and Ian Simpson; Editing by Howard Goller and Grant McCool)



    Personally, I'll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one.
    To us, it is the BEAST.

  • #2
    Corporations have been "people" in United States law since, at least, 1947 with the Dictionary Act (1 U.S. Code Section 1):

    "the words “person” and “whoever” include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals;"
    “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
    - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

    Comment


    • #3
      shut up lawyer
      To us, it is the BEAST.

      Comment


      • #4
        How dare you confuse him with facts!
        I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
        For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

        Comment


        • #5
          i like to troll for oerdin and mrfun thanks

          DONT JUDGE ME
          To us, it is the BEAST.

          Comment


          • #6
            Ooooh... well then, Dinner & MrFun - please don't read Post #2. K thnx bye!
            “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
            - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

            Comment


            • #7
              To us, it is the BEAST.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Sava View Post
                Personally, I'll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one.
                Click here if you're having trouble sleeping.
                "We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones." - François de La Rochefoucauld

                Comment


                • #9
                  Does Planned Parenthood count on that score?
                  “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
                  - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Given the chance, that's definitely where the pro-life movement would go... and where they want to go.
                    To us, it is the BEAST.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Am I supposed to be upset because someone who owns a business isn't expected to violate his religious beliefs?

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        There is a special place in Hell for corporations.
                        There's nothing wrong with the dream, my friend, the problem lies with the dreamer.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          it'll be interesting to see how Scalia deals with this since he denied native Americans the right to use peyote in religious ceremonies because people cant be exempt from laws even for religious reasons

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Berzerker View Post
                            it'll be interesting to see how Scalia deals with this since he denied native Americans the right to use peyote in religious ceremonies because people cant be exempt from laws even for religious reasons
                            A significant law came out after that ruling, mind.
                            “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
                            - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Berzerker View Post
                              it'll be interesting to see how Scalia deals with this since he denied native Americans the right to use peyote in religious ceremonies because people cant be exempt from laws even for religious reasons
                              This isn't a drug case.
                              I make no bones about my moral support for [terrorist] organizations. - chegitz guevara
                              For those who aspire to live in a high cost, high tax, big government place, our nation and the world offers plenty of options. Vermont, Canada and Venezuela all offer you the opportunity to live in the socialist, big government paradise you long for. –Senator Rubio

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X