So, the SCOTUS sided with Hobby Lobby

[Jenny A]

OK so I finally got around to reading the damned decision.

Here's a summary:

1. The case is NOT really about rights under the free exercise clause in the 1st Amendment.

2. It is about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), in which Congress gave religious objectors to federal laws a statutory right to exemptions in some cases:

"Government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion

even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability, …

[unless the Government] demonstrates that application of the burden to the person …

is the least restrictive means of furthering [a] compelling governmental interest."

3. RFRA does not exclude closely held corporations. And this is reasonable since corporations are a legal fiction and the real owners are the shareholders.

4. Hobby Lobby is a closely held corporation who's shareholders all believe contraceptives are morally wrong for religious reasons.

5. The Affordable care act would be less burdensome on owners of Hobby Lobby if it did not require them to pay for contraception insurance directly and instead used direct payment for such contraception by the federal government through general taxes.

6. This is not 1st Amendment case. And it is a matter of weighing the specific circumstances on a case by case basis as directed by congress in the RFRA.

In other words, expect many more Hobby Lobby type cases.