Written by Don Byrd
Last week, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard the contraception mandate case involving Hobby Lobby’s challenge of the federal health case law known as Obamacare.This is both the most high profile and seemingly the farthest along of any of the disputes pitting the Department of Justice against a private employer seeking to avoid the contraception coverage requirement on religious freedom grounds.
The Denver Business Journal has more, including exchanges from the judges regarding where to draw the line.
Judge Neil Gorsuch similarly questioned why the tax treatment of revenues generated by the company — the essential difference between a for-profit like Hobby Lobby and a nonprofit — would change the status of its ability to object to the imposition of a law upon religious grounds.
“What is it inherently about a for-profit corporation that is different from those other things?” Gorsuch asked during a one-hour hearing.
Klein replied that courts have set precedent by exempting churches and spiritual leaders from Title VII anti-discrimination laws regarding religion — so that they could hire people who specifically adhere to their faith — but have said that extending the exemption to secular, for-profit companies would open the door to extend religious organizations’ influence into profit-making activities.
