Hobby Lobby and The Supreme Decision

The Supreme Court in yet another 5 – 4 ruling declared that for-profit companies can use religious objections to avoid paying for contraception coverage required under Obamacare. The decision against Obamacare’s birth control mandate in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby is being praised by most Republicans, Fox News, and an entire group of people who want to see President Obama suffer a political defeat no matter what.

However progressives, Democrats and just about all feminists are hopping mad about the ruling and have vowed to take action. Some left- leaning political pundits are even saying this ruling could swing the next national election against Republicans and just might provide Hillary Clinton a clear path to the White House in 2016. In other words because of this result, pissed off women will turn out in droves to vote against Republicans. There’s even been talk of a Black Friday boycott. It will interesting to see if the anger lasts that long.

In my view this decision reeks of paternalism and runaway corporate power. So women do have a right to be angry. In case you don’t know, Hobby Lobby is a nationwide chain of stand-alone arts and crafts stores. As an artist on a budget I've personally made quite a few purchases from this chain over the years. That stops now.

Anyway, as a student I would sometimes visit the Hobby Lobby store in Valdosta, Georgia. I would buy things like tubes of paint, artist paint brushes, drawing pencils, colored pencils, brush cleaning soap, sketch pads and sometimes even pre-stretched canvas. They were usually my third choice behind fellow national chain Michaels Art and Crafts Store and the University Book Store, my main place for supplies.

Remember this is the same Supreme Court that famously declared corporations to be people with a ruling few years back. Think about that. Corporations are people. It appears corporations are not only people, but constitute a very special class of people who just happen to have a litany of “special” rights. These rights include the power to unduly influence elections through unlimited campaign contributions, the right to just about ban union membership among its employees, and now the right to order female workers around in their personal lives.

Supporters of this ruling often cite “religious liberty” as the reason for their enthusiasm. They say corporations with “religious” views shouldn't be forced to condone behavior they don’t agree with, such as women taking birth control or having sex outside of marriage. You see some folks confuse birth control with abortion, which is a huge issue for certain “religious” zealots. This is a very slippery slope my friend, with implications for the LGBT, minority and immigrant communities.

In fact we’ve already seen lawsuits filed by more than 100 religious organizations that want to be exempt from President Obama’s upcoming executive action. The proposed executive order would ban workplace discrimination against you guessed it, gays and lesbians by entities that have contracts with the federal government. I’ll excuse you if your one of many Americans who mistakenly assume such discrimination is already against the law. It is not. That’s why Obama’s executive order is so important. Of course any executive order would only cover federal contractors, which make up a tiny sliver of the American workforce. These religious lawsuits I’m sure will go forward, ending up with the Supremes again. I think we already know whose side they’re on and how they almost certainly will rule.

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