Hobby Lobby was decided today, 5-4, along the usual conservative/liberal split. Alito, writing for
the majority, qualifies up his opinion in various ways:
* The decision
only pertains to closely held companies governed by the ridiculously named Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Arguably, if Congress wanted to make an exception under the RFRA to remove birth control as a religious issue, it could.
* The decision
applies only to birth control.
* Alito believes
there is a less-restrictive means for the government to provide birth control.
Hobby Lobby And The True Gangsta Life Of Justice Alito « Above the Law: A Legal Web Site ? News, Commentary, and Opinions on Law Firms, Lawyers, Law Schools, Law Suits, Judges and Courts + Career Resources
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Alito said
the opinion was limited to closely held corporations: Our decision should not be understood to hold that an insurance coverage mandate must necessarily fall if it conflicts with an employers religious beliefs. Other coverage requirements, such as immunizations, may be supported by different interests (for example, the need to combat the spread of infectious diseases) and may involve different arguments about the least restrictive means of providing them.
...
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote a dissent, joined on the merits by Justice Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer.
In her dissent Ginsburg disagreed with Alito --and worried about what other challenges might come next. :
Reading the Act expansively, as the court does, raises a host of Me, too questions.
...
Paul D. Clement, a lawyer for the companies argued the law substantially burdens his clients and that
the governmentwhich has exempted others from the lawhad no compelling justification to force Hobby Lobby and other closely held businesses to provide the coverage.
Hobby Lobby Wins Contraceptive Ruling in Supreme Court - ABC News
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