Title: Obamacare v. the First Amendment | TheHill
Headings: Obamacare v. the First Amendment
Obamacare v. the First Amendment
Content: The case of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. brings the Affordable Care Act and its health care mandates to the legal forefront. The oral arguments, presented March 25, represent the final step toward a court decision that will have far reaching ramifications. Hobby Lobby, an arts and crafts retailer with some 550 stores nationwide, has articulated its position clearly and simply; it has no interest in making health care decisions for its 21,000 employees. But the dictates of Obamacare currently force Hobby Lobby and other businesses to violate their conscience. The circumstances are similar in the case of Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp v. Sebelius, which will be argued in tandem with the Hobby Lobby case. Oddly, the administration has allowed religious institutions to be exempt from certain Obamacare provisions that violate their First Amendment rights but fails to recognize that individuals and companies can share the same convictions as exempt religious organizations. Detractors falsely portray the cases in terms of birth control or zealotry but the true question is whether the protections of the First Amendment extend to companies. The five fundamental rights of the First Amendment - religion, speech, the press, peaceful assembly and the right to petition the government for redress - represent the core of the American founding. The problem is that some want to cherry pick which provisions will be held sacrosanct and which will be disregarded.