RE: So, the SCOTUS sided with Hobby Lobby
July 1, 2014 at 8:57 am
(This post was last modified: July 1, 2014 at 9:03 am by IAmTheeWallrus.)
The sticky part of this ruling is the term "closely held".
Cargill for instance is closely held and employs 130,000 employees.
Becktell, Dell computer and many many others meet the definition of closely held.
All of those corporations must adhere to things like fair hiring practices and a whole host of employment laws.
But in this case the handful of majority stockholders (a max of 4 I believe in order to be termed closely held) may overrule the 130,000 employees. It looks like another special case for religion. Employees are perfectly capable of NOT practicing contraception if their religious views prohibits it irregardless of whether the coverage is offered or not. This is an objection to employees who don't hold those views being free to chose otherwise.
In effect it is a small group shoving their beliefs on all of their employees.
What is to happen when one of them refuses to hire gays because of their Christian religion?
What happens when Scientologist corporations (yes there are some) refuse to pay for psychiatric care?
Or when fundamentalists refuse to pay for blood transfusions?
The supreme court went out of it's way to say that this decision does not apply to "other religious objections" but the problem with that is that a "good" ruling should result in consistency. As soon as you start making special cases then the spirit of the law goes out the window.
It's another mess and a testament to the influence of big religion on our political process. The most conservative of the supreme court justices have consistently demonstrated that they are beholden to the most conservative wing of American politics which has in turn demonstrated that it is beholden to the "religious right".
The supreme court has become a joke. The last bastion of American jurisprudence has been bought off.
Cargill for instance is closely held and employs 130,000 employees.
Becktell, Dell computer and many many others meet the definition of closely held.
All of those corporations must adhere to things like fair hiring practices and a whole host of employment laws.
But in this case the handful of majority stockholders (a max of 4 I believe in order to be termed closely held) may overrule the 130,000 employees. It looks like another special case for religion. Employees are perfectly capable of NOT practicing contraception if their religious views prohibits it irregardless of whether the coverage is offered or not. This is an objection to employees who don't hold those views being free to chose otherwise.
In effect it is a small group shoving their beliefs on all of their employees.
What is to happen when one of them refuses to hire gays because of their Christian religion?
What happens when Scientologist corporations (yes there are some) refuse to pay for psychiatric care?
Or when fundamentalists refuse to pay for blood transfusions?
The supreme court went out of it's way to say that this decision does not apply to "other religious objections" but the problem with that is that a "good" ruling should result in consistency. As soon as you start making special cases then the spirit of the law goes out the window.
It's another mess and a testament to the influence of big religion on our political process. The most conservative of the supreme court justices have consistently demonstrated that they are beholden to the most conservative wing of American politics which has in turn demonstrated that it is beholden to the "religious right".
The supreme court has become a joke. The last bastion of American jurisprudence has been bought off.
'Crazy' is a term of art; 'Insane' is a term of law. Remember that, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.
Hunter S. Thompson
