OKLAHOMA CITY — The retailer Hobby Lobby will appeal a federal court’s refusal of its request for an injunction against the federal Health and Human Services' contraceptive mandate.
A district court judge denied Hobby Lobby’s request for an injunction Nov. 19, thereby requiring the Christian-owned business to cover abortion-causing drugs in its health-insurance plans or face millions of dollars in fines.
“We disagree with this decision, and we will immediately appeal it,” said Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
The religious-freedom group is representing the Oklahoma City-based company, which is owned by founder and CEO David Green and his family. Hobby Lobby’s sister company, Mardel, Inc., is also a plaintiff in the case.
Green and his family object to providing abortion-inducing contraceptive drugs.
“Every American, including family business owners like the Greens, should be free to live and do business according to their religious beliefs. The Green family needs relief now, and we will seek it immediately,” Duncan said Nov. 19.
The ruling is the latest development in the controversy over the Department of Health and Human Services' mandate requiring insurance coverage for sterilization and contraception, including some abortion-causing drugs. The mandate’s narrow religious exemption applies only to nonprofit organizations that aim to spread religious values and that employ and serve primarily people of their own religion.
Employers who violate the mandate risk fines of $100 per employee per day. Hobby Lobby, which employs more than 13,000 full-time workers, said it faces a daily $1.3-million fine beginning Jan. 1, 2013, if it ignores the law.
A lawyer for the federal government said the drugs do not cause abortions and the U.S. has a compelling interest in mandating insurance coverage for such medications, The Associated Press reported.
‘Uncharted Waters’
In his Nov. 19 decision, U.S. district Judge Joe Heaton of the Western District of Oklahoma ruled that Hobby Lobby and Mardel “are not religious organizations.” The judge also said the plaintiffs had not cited, and that the court had not found, any case that had concluded that “secular, for-profit corporations” such as Hobby Lobby have “a constitutional right to the free exercise of religion.”
Judge Heaton said the mandate only “indirectly” burdens the Greens’ religious beliefs.
Judge Heaton wrote that the court is “not unsympathetic” to the company’s dilemma. He said the 2010 health-care law’s expansion of employer obligations has caused “concerns and issues not previously confronted by companies or their owners.”
The question of whether restrictions on business corporations violate the religious freedom of their owners is one of “largely uncharted waters,” he said.
Hobby Lobby’s David Green said legal action for relief from the application of the contraceptive mandate was necessary because of Hobby Lobby’s dedication to God.
“It is by God’s grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has endured,” he said. “Therefore, we seek to honor God by operating the company in a manner consistent with biblical principles.”
Hobby Lobby has 500 stores in 41 states. It is the largest business to file a legal challenge against the HHS mandate. It is also the first business not owned by Catholics to do so.
The company is one of the few national retailers that continues to close its stores on Sunday “in order to allow our employees and customers more time for worship and family,” its website says.
The mandate is causing significant concern among Catholic and other employers with religious and moral objections to providing the mandated coverage. It could affect many Catholic colleges, charities, health-care systems and even some dioceses that must provide the coverage or face crippling fines.
There are currently 40 lawsuits with over 110 plaintiffs challenging the mandate.
While the Obama administration has proposed an accommodation to expand religious-freedom protections, its details and effectiveness are still unclear. The administration has opposed congressional efforts to broaden the exemption, and President Barack Obama criticized Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney for supporting a broader religious exemption.
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Solzenitzen, the brave man who battled the oppression of Soviet Russia and spent a great deal of time in prison, before he ever fought them. One of his sayings for the world is, ” Freedom is Conscience! And Conscience is Freedom!”
What is happening to our Country? The First Amendment makes freedom to practice our own faith or lack there-of without intrusion by any governmental entity. We are in truly ‘big trouble’...May God help us all!!
KateriT2
There is only a short widow before the next supreme court justice is named. Its is critical to support the Green family.
If only religious institutions are deemed to have any kind of freedom (from government coercion) of religion, then the First Amendment, through the explosion of government power over our lives, is about to be excised from the Bill of Rights. And if the anti-God reactions at the Democratic Party convention are any indication, gutting or excising the First Amendments Freedom of Religion is a real goal of that party.
Considering how much so many Catholics are willing to grovel to government power, more Catholics should take the time to read some biographies of St. Thomas Becket and St. Thomas More and should study the Church-state issues that they gave their lives for.
Hobby Lobby is a good company. I’m glad they are fighting the Obama mandates.
Great, then I am forming a company and based on my religion that forbids me from paying taxes to secular governments I am refusing to pay taxes. This case will end in defeat as the Fed Courts are never going to create a rat’s nest of exemptions fro regulation based on the religion of the stockholders of purely secular corporations.
That’s outrageous that the White House administration and some judge are forcing Americans to pay for abortifacients to deliberately destroy innocent human life. Americans apparently have no religious freedom when we step out of the church building. Government has become the biggest problem in our society today.
The Constitutional amendment granting freedom of religion is alive and well. What is not doing as well is religious tolerance. Whether it is to ones liking or not we are and shall remain a pluralistic and diverse society. When religion enters the secular world with its charities, hospitals, and housing it must obey the law of the land or turn its enterpises over to those who will. There has never been any opposition to the church preaching that ‘contraception is evil’. There is a problem when the church interferes with non Catholics, and yes Catholics too, access to contraceptives. That is a violation of civil rights. The church would be less disingenuous if it preached the evils of contraception to its flock, who use contraception far in excess of ninety per cent…or simply state; if you are against contraceptives don’t use them. You have no right to religious intolerance (hiding it as religous freedom).
I’m a Catholic who is gravely concerned. God bless the Green family,Oklahoma and all in this nation who treasure religious freedom.
This administration has intruded into our daily lives like no other. God help us all. Will pray they have the strength to keep up the good fight.
I have a lot of respect for David Green. He puts his faith into action even when it hurts.
We stand completely in support with the Green family !
If they loose we all do. They are trying to pick us off
one at a time. This corrupt ‘Regime’ has to be stopped.
Good for them! they need to keep this in the courts indefintely.
The Supreme Court says its a tax but its not; its an order by the
high priest of the secular world.
Our Congress has no power to change his degrees anymore but the grass roots can do a lot of damage.. remember the Thomas Moore society in charity giving along with the Catholic League for Religious and Civic Rights.
Don’t throw up your hands and say you can’t fight city hall this has bigger implications…we must fight even if it takes the next 4 years.
In 2 years we might be able to change Congress completely if the majority hasn’t been more brainwashed by the secular media.
Many unions and companies (McDonald’s among them) received a waiver from having to follow all the rules on Obamacare, and that was obviously not for religious reasons. Since those waivers were based on political patronage, why can’t religious organizations and companies like Hobby Lobby receive an exemption on deeply held religious convictions? After all, this goes against our first amendment rights. I fear that if we lose on this this is only the beginning of assaults against our faith.
This is truly a sad day for all of us Christian Catholics alike. we are loosing our freedom and the dems will take us soon to the camps, if we disagree with them. Lord when are you coming! We need you now.
So far, all I have read are comments that support Hobby Lobby. There are some like myself who happen to think that health care is an ethical, not a religious issue, will my comment be published? I also believe that if churches want to meddle in politics, they should pay taxes like all citizens, or at least be required to register as lobbying organizations. If we tear down laws that require businesses to treat all people the same, soon the line will be crossed that businesses can ignore civil rights laws, can deny service to Muslims, Jews, Atheists, etc. They could require employees to be of a certain faith, ethnicity, gender, and that would be a travesty.
In all the arguments I’ve heard against the HHS mandate, I’ve not heard anyone say that the government DOES NOT have the authority to tell private businesses to provide anything to their employees. The mandate itself is blatanly unconstitutional from that stand point.
I hope that more companies battle the government over this mandate and over the entire “Affordable” Healthcare Act. The government is trying to become a democratic socialist republic and chuck the Constitution entirely.
This is so crazy! None of this makes any sense. One thing for sure, America is not the land of the free any more. Marana tha!
Our Constitutional as well as our unalienable right to self-govern have been under assault since the early 19th century. As Americans, not simply Catholics, we have relinquished our liberty in the most incremental and insidious ways. Every time we call for legislation out of anger, to slap the hand of another, or to allow federal subsidy of sincethat which should be state and community programs, we chip away at our God given rights and our Republic. Sadly, the US has operated more like a social democracy for at least 100 years. It its through misguided compassion that we are duped into making these mistakes, as well as our lack of knowledge of our Constitution and the Federalist Papers. Voting is ten percent of our civic duty. Kudos to Hobby Lobby for exercising their rights, and standing up for their freedom. Perhaps the rest of us will learn true unrevised history, in order to refrain from repeating our mistakes.
It is our RIGHT as citizens of the United States, ““The First Amendment Freedom of Religion”. We have the RIGHT to our religious belief and all that it entails. I stand behind Hobby Lobby for fighting to follow its religious belief. If only there were MORE businesses and people that would take a stand against government control. We need to step BACK, and bring our country back to God’s laws and surely He would bless this country again. As it is now, we are going down into the gutter. We turn away from God’s ways and this is where we are today. Let us turn around our lives, ask for mercy and forgiveness (over 5 million deaths by our hands), pray often and we would see a BIG DIFFERENCE in our country and the world.
Another example of the conclusion that a “free exercise of religion” only applies to where we worship rather than how we live. This line of thought truly threatens religious liberty and must be fought.
Prayer works and I’ll be including the Green family in mine. We must all come together on this - it is not a just decision to force Americans to abandon their beliefs to give another group something. We have forgotten who we are and our last as well.
Amazing (or maybe not) that the Obama administration has exempted numerous large companies and unions who have no religious objections but can’t exempt Catholic entities and other employers with religious beliefs that oppose abortion. How could so many Catholics re-elect this man? The numbers of regular church-going Catholics voting for Obama should have been ZERO. We have a lot of work to do in this year of faith.
Maybe it’s time for a national “buycott” to support Hobby Lobby and draw attention to what is happening to this company, as was done for Chik-fil-a.
We are in this situation because too many Catholics failed to boycott the Democratic Party and its candidate during the election, even when the party’s convention so clearly showed how the Democratic Party has been hijacked by extreme anti-religion and anti-life factions.
The he should just limit the number of hours and workers so he does not have to comply!
NO COMPROMISE NADA!
KateriT2; That was before traitorous American voters turned our nation over to the scourge of socialism. The first target of this economic bane is to destroy the First Amendment, liberty, and religious freedom.
AMERICAN SPIRIT STILL LIVES!
The true American spirit will always live – I know why.
Liberty and religious freedom are ever our cry.
Don’t let a day pass without honor for the God we trust.
To aspire for salvation must always be our main thrust.
The hour of visitation must never be forgotten.
Without trust in God, our nation could not be begotten.
We must ensure that Christianity again prevails.
Without the God of Abraham our basic nature fails.
The liberty ball is silent – freedom we still ensure.
In the hearts of Americans it will always endure.
I will fly Old Glory when our nation is again free.
Socialism leads a nation into ignominy.
Now, the nation my military career defended,
has by traitorous American votes been upended.
A grave sin was committed against unborn human life.
God’s Justice surely demands vengeance and eternal strife.
When spirit seems at its very worst, patriots heed the call.
They know what made liberty and freedom refuse to fall.
The American dream, now in default, we must revive,
Only with revived trust in God can our nation survive.
Bob Rowland
X1/XVIII/MMXII
People, please stop hyperventilating over this. Contraceptive coverage has been federal law since December 2000 under President Bush. I didn’t notice any of you complaining about it then! Could it be that if a Republican president mandates contraceptives it’s okay (or at least not as bad) as a Democratic president? The details: Starting in December 2000, and continuing through all eight years of Bush, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that companies that provided prescription drugs to their employees but didn’t provide birth control were in violation of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The Civil Rights Act prevents discrimination on the basis of sex. That opinion is still in effect today. Because it relies on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, it applies to all employers with 15 or more employees. Obamacare did NOTHING to change this. Breathe everyone, breathe…
Our fore fathers fought for the freedom of religion,not the freedom from religion.If a owner wants to with hold medication to its employee due following their religion then it should be able to do so.
If the employee doesn’t like it then they should work somewhere else.With the unemployment rate up so high someone will work without wanting to have a pill to kill there baby.
“The judge also said the plaintiffs had not cited, and that the court had not found, any case that had concluded that ‘secular, for-profit corporations’ such as Hobby Lobby have ‘a constitutional right to the free exercise of religion.’”
This is, in my view, one of the biggest problems with our country. We compartmentalize religion and religious observance so that it doesn’t “interfere” with the larger society. But perhaps this is also a major drawback of owning a corporation, which may have legal standing as an individual but not with the same rights of an individual.
The Green Family has my full support both in prayer and in fighting this terrible mandate! We are living in dire times and when the darkess gets darker the light must shine brighter and stronger!
I will be proud to continue shopping there.
Thank God for Hobby Lobby and David Green. They donate a large portion of their profits to charity, demonstrating their genuine concern for people in need. Their courage in fighting against the HHS violation of the first Amendment is both admirable and courageous. If the Obama administration is willing to penalize solid citizens like Hobby Lobby, and destroy their ethic of social responsibility and charity, what does that say about our government?
While I agree that people and companies are free to express their religious beliefs, I am not sure if either side has a good stance here. While, yes, Hobby Lobby should be allowed to express their religious beliefs through their health coverage because they believe abortion to be wrong and believe that these contraceptive drugs will cause it, indirectly or not, you also have to take into consideration the rights of the employees. While the company and it’s owners may believe that, can they guarantee that all of their employees feel the same way? I support religious expression and protection of religious freedom but not at the expense of taking away someone’s right to decide what is right for their own body and mind. What you do to yourself, in the end, should be your right and your right alone, despite what people may say. And to have that right taken away from you by someone who says they “know better,” by whatever excuse they use whether it be religion, medicine, or moral, I think is a terrible thing for someone to have to face. You may not agree with their choices, but does that give you the right to make their choice your own? So, if employees want to have access to these contraceptives, does that give this company the right to take that option away from them? Do they have to find a new job just because their beliefs don’t match up? Yes, Hobby Lobby has a right to religious expression, but when they take that right away from their employees, what does that say? Maybe a compromise might be met by consulting the employees for the company.
It is either obey obama’s mandate and go to hell or obey God. It is martyr time for Catholics. Gaining the whole world is not worth losing your sole. Hell is forever.
Eli Wolfe:
You wrote: I support religious expression and protection of religious freedom but not at the expense of taking away someone’s right to decide what is right for their own body and mind. What you do to yourself, in the end, should be your right and your right alone, despite what people may say.
Our government, as a Constitutional Republic, does not have the right to tell an employer how to run their business. With that said; if an employee wishes to have particular benefits, they may shop around for the employer that is the best fit. It is not my business what someone chooses to do, until I have to pay for it with tax dollars. Then it certainly is my business, and it is against my moral code and religious expression. Religious freedom allows for the robust display of one’s faith in the public square, not merely behind the pulpit.
I understand your compassion, yet it appears to be misguided. Tolerance applies to individuals vs. national tax-funded policies, which tend to favor the thin theoretical minority. By supporting such tax funded initiatives under the guise of civil rights, we hand deliver our liberty to the hands of a few DC bureaucrats. DC will never fix DC, it is full of DCvers. States and community based solutions are the way to go, as well as having discussions within the framework of the Constitution and its proper interpretation noted in the Federalist Papers. See the Avalon Project - free online - at Yale Law School - for access to such documents and others.
One of the things mandated that Catholic employers must provide is a chemical that will kill children in the womb. But, of course, the anti-Catholic media harps and harps on the part of the tyranny that is most popular, simple birth control. Indeed,some polls show most Americans have no idea that the Obama Admin is requiring Catholics to be complicit in killing children.
Too bad there hadn’t been Catholics in Germany who stood up for their Faith by refusing to manufacture Zylon-B gas (The agent used to kill Jews and others in the extermination camps.)
As an elderly person, what bothers me about this mandate is that the young are given contraceptives, abortifacients and abortion help through their insurance, for “HEALTH REASONS”.
Then why, since I am on a government health insurance called MEDICARE; why doesn’t the government include dental help for the elderly. THAT REALLY HAS A LOT TO DO WITH OUR HEALTH. We have to chew our food for nutrition!
So the young can sleep with whomever they please because they get the free stuff, but we elderly have to suffer through expensive dental care,which we can’t afford. Once a year in Charlotte, N.C. they give free dental service to very poor people, but not to people on Medicare, who pay all their bills. With the cost of living rising it is very hard for us. Remember everyone, the Democrats forced Medicare on us years ago.
I do know the answer—-this Administration wants the abortions, etc. because they want to keep the census down, and they do not want to give us elderly help because it is their way of practicing euthanasia.
Why would everyone be surprised. We were told that this law was going to be applied after January 2013.
And yet, in spite of this Obama was relected because of the Catholics who VOTED for his mandate.
Now we all pay for bad decision in part because as one said: because many, many catholics were not told that contraception pills are evils, etc.
Now we might have to choose to go to jail because of our lack of FAITH in God and faith in OBAMA.
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