By: Bob Unruh
The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision Monday ruled that a “closely held” for-profit business can opt out of Obamacare’s controversial contraception requirement based on religious objections.
The case brought by Hobby Lobby, an Oklahoma-based arts and crafts chain with about 13,000 employees, and Conestoga Wood Specialties, a Pennsylvania cabinet maker, challenged the Affordable Health Care Act requirement that employees provide free contraception coverage, including abortion-inducing drugs.
Hobby Lobby’s argument was based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA, which protects the individual beliefs of citizens.
The majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito dismissed the Department of Health and Human Services argument that the companies cannot sue because they are for-profit corporations and that the owners cannot sue because the regulations apply only to the companies. Alito said that “would leave merchants with a difficult choice: give up the right to seek judicial protection of their religious liberty or forgo the benefits of operating as corporations.”
The opinion said the RFRA’s text “shows that Congress designed the statute to provide very broad protection for religious liberty and did not intend to put merchants to such a choice.”
Alito said “the purpose of extending rights to corporations is to protect the rights of people associated with the corporation, including shareholders, officers, and employees.”
“Protecting the free-exercise rights of closely held corporations thus protects the religious liberty of humans who own and control them.”
The opinion said while the dissent argues RFRA does not cover Conestoga, Hobby Lobby and Mardel, an affiliate company of Hobby Lobby, because they cannot “exercise religion,” the justices “offer no persuasive explanation for this conclusion.”
“The corporate form alone cannot explain it because RFRA indisputable protects nonprofit corporations. And the profit-making objective of the corporations cannot explain it because the court has entertained the free-exercise claims of individuals who were attempting to make a profit as retail merchants.”
The court said that “business practices compelled or limited by the tenets of a religious doctrine fall comfortably within the understanding of the ‘exercise of religion.’”
While the court ruling was not a sweeping First Amendment freedom of religion ruling, it concluded: “HHS’s contraceptive mandate substantially burdens the exercise of religion.”
“It requires the Hahns and Greens to engage in conduct that seriously violates their sincere religious belief that life begins at conception.”
The opinion made clear the priority of protecting religion.
“RFRA’s question is whether the mandate imposes a substantial burden on the objecting parties’ ability to conduct business in accordance with their religious beliefs. … It is not for the court to say that the religious beliefs of the plaintiffs are mistaken or unreasonable.”
Joining Alito were Chief Justice John Roberts, whose determination two years that Obamacare was a tax saved the law, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas.
The opinion concluded that if the government is demanding free abortion-inducing drugs for women, it should pay for them.
The two justices appointed by Obama, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, joined in the minority opinion, which argued that “accommodations to religious beliefs or observances, the court has clarified, must not significantly impinge on the interests of third parties.”
It said the decision would deny “legions of women who do not hold their employers’ beliefs access to contraceptive coverage.”
The dissent said “logistical and administrative obstacles” for employees deprived of abortifacients required them “to take steps to learn about, and to sign up for, a new [government funded and administered] health benefit.”
The question presented in the case was whether any law, such as a nationwide health-care management system imposed by the government, can be so important that Washington can order people to violate their religious faith, on contradiction to the freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.
The religious objections to the contraception mandate raised by the Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby, and the Hahn family, owners of Conestoga Wood, have been raised in nearly 90 other cases.
The Greens and Hahns said their Christian faith prevents them – under any circumstances – from enabling the deaths of unborn babies. Obamacare requires employers to cover abortion-inducing drugs in health-care plans for their employees on request.
The demands align with Obama’s longstanding support for abortion under any circumstances. He even argued, while a state senator in Illinois, against requiring doctors to provide live-saving help to babies who survive abortions.
Government attorneys have claimed they aren’t asking the people as individuals to violate their faith. But the family owners insist their businesses are inseparable from their personal faith.
The issue even drew a key Obamacare supporter into the dispute on the side of the religious families.
Former Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., provided the deciding vote for Obamacare, even though he had objected to the plan to have taxpayers fund abortions.
He gave up his opposition, drawing scorn from pro-lifers as a traitor, when Obama promised to issue an executive order separate from the law that would respect prohibitions on federal funding of abortion and freedom of conscience and religion.
Stupak wrote a commentary published by USA Today to support the Green and Hahn families.
“As a private citizen,” he wrote, “I’m proud to stand with the Green and Hahn families and their corporations, Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, in seeking to uphold our most cherished beliefs that we, as American citizens, should not be required to relinquish our conscience and moral convictions in order to implement the Affordable Care Act.”
He said his objection is to the Obamacare mandate that forces businesses and their owners to cover “methods of contraception that may cause the abortion of new embryos: new human beings.”
Stupak said that in the “battle over the ACA’s passage, pro-life Democratic members of Congress negotiated with the president to ensure that the act would not be employed to promote abortion.”
He “received an ironclad commitment that our conscience would remain free and our principles would be honored,” he said.
But the authors of the Obamacare law and subsequent regulations have fought back against the faith-based objections. The administration has granted hundreds of exemptions to various rules and regulations under Obamacare but steadfastly has refused to make an allowance for faith issues.
One of the most pointed cases against the contraception mandate was brought by the Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of Catholic nuns who run homes for the elderly.
The nuns have argued in court documents their faith prohibits them “from participating in the government’s program to distribute, subsidize, and promote the use of contraceptives, sterilization, or abortion-inducing drugs and devices.”
The government has persistently demanded that the Little Sisters “give up” their position on abortion, a brief filed with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in their case charges.
“The government has fought all the way to the Supreme Court, and continues to fight in this court, to force the Little Sisters to execute and deliver its mandatory contraceptive coverage form. … If the Little Sisters refuse, the government promises to impose severe financial penalties,” the brief notes.
The district court that ordered the Little Sisters to sign a form authorizing a third-party promotion of abortifacients “essentially re-writes the Little Sisters’ religious beliefs for them.”
“Standard moral reasoning underpins the Little Sisters’ refusal to designate, authorize, incentivize, and obligate a third party to do that which the Little Sisters may not do directly,” the brief stated.
“And regardless of what the trial court and the government think the Little Sisters should believe, the undisputed fact is that they do believe their religion forbids them from signing EBSA Form 700. It was not for the district court to disagree with the line drawn by the Little Sisters.”
The Becket Fund has been representing Hobby Lobby, Little Sisters of the Poor, GuideStone, Wheaton College, East Texas Baptist University, Houston Baptist University, Colorado Christian University, the Eternal Word Television Network, Ave Maria University and Belmont Abbey College.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is representing a long list of other plaintiffs.
Hobby Lobby could face $1.3 million in daily fines for refusing to pay for abortion-inducing drugs as Obama demands.
A number of other cases challenge Obamacare on additional allegations of unconstitutionality.
In one, attorneys for Matt Sissel – a small-business owner who wants to pay medical expenses on his own and has financial, philosophical and constitutional objections to being ordered to purchase a health plan he does not need or want – charge the Obamacare bill was unconstitutionally launched in the U.S. Senate and is therefore invalid.
They noted that the Constitution requires all tax bills in Congress to begin in the House of Representatives. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., they said, manipulated the legislation by taking the bill number for an innocuous veterans housing program that had been approved by the House, pasting it on the front of thousands of Obamacare pages and voting on it.
That means, they argued, that the entire law was adopted unconstitutionally and should be canceled, including its $800 billion in taxes.
The argument essentially makes the Constitution a silver bullet to kill Obamacare.
The case, brought by the Pacific Legal Foundation, is based on the Constitution’s Origination Clause.
The eventual decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit likely will be advanced to the U.S. Supreme Court.
PLF principal attorney Paul J. Beard II told WND after a recent court hearing that government attorneys claimed the U.S. House did not voice objections at the time of the votes to the fact the Senate had gutted a bill, inserted Obamacare and then approved it.
But Beard said the vote took place was at a time when no one was considering Obamacare as a tax-raising measure, because the Obama administration was arguing that the fees, payments and penalties weren’t taxes.
In fact, it was the U.S. Supreme Court that labeled them as taxes, when the issue was before the court the first time.
Also, the attorneys argued, the Constitution allows the Senate to “amend” House bills, even though it requires tax measures to “originate” in the House. So exactly what do “amend” and “originate” mean?
Beard explained that the authors of the Constitution had different intents when they used different words, so it is unlikely the founders’ intent was the same when they allowed “amending” but not “originating.”
Whatever decision is reached, he told WND, it likely will be submitted to the court again, in a request for a hearing before the full court, and later, to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It is our goal to get this before the Supreme Court again,” he confirmed.
The first trip to the court was a challenge to Obama under the Commerce Clause. The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 Obamacare is a tax – likely the biggest tax increase ever in America – also was constitutional.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/supreme-court-rules-in-hobby-lobby-vs-obamacare/#ILkzYZkK8j5DfJqv.99
TLB recommends you read more great/pertinent articles here: http://www.wnd.com
There Are No Virgins In Virginia
By: TLB Staff
Published June 30, 2014, in COMMENTARY
By TLB Contributor: Dave Hodges
The term “virgin” is a term which refers to being of, or in a pristine and undisturbed state. There is nothing pristine or undisturbed about the conduct of many of Virginia’s public servants. After reading these representative accounts of the conduct of various Virginia’s officials, you will quickly conclude that there are no virgins left in Virginia.
People In Virginia Have “Political Schizophrenia”
Are you old enough to remember 1970′s Soviet-style political schizophrenia? In the former Soviet Union, a systematic political abuse of psychiatry took place and it was based on the interpretation of political dissent as a psychiatric problem. It was called “psychopathological mechanisms” of dissent. The world came to know the practice as “political schizophrenia”. Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev used psychiatry to eradicate all political opponents. An increasing number of officials in Virginia are embracing a similar philosophy.
Similar to the former Soviet Union, there are no innocent people in the state of Virginia. John Whitehead, the director of the Rutherford Institute, a public interest law firm designed to protect the Constitutional liberties of American citizens, claims that as many 20,000 Virginians are sent to mental hospitals each year against their will, and some may be victims of … political repression.
Pre-crime arrests, indefinite detention, all in violation of the Constitution, have become mainstream policy for this present administration. Amazingly, MSNBC covered the installment of these police state tactics here.
In effect, psychology is being used to enslave free-minded people. Both the Obama administration and the Virginia CPS have a new partner in crime and it is the American Psychological Association (APA). The APA created the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (5th Edition) which was recently adopted. DSM V is highly controversial and has sparked outrage from the mental health practitioners. As many of these practitioners point out, the new DSM-V makes a pathology out of simple and normal behaviors such as the grieving for the loss of a loved one. Particularly disturbing is that the new manual which targets internet users and conspiracy theorists. So, if you are reading this now, you are mentally ill and should be institutionalized because if someone is judged, by some vague set of criteria, to spend too much time on the internet, they could be judged to be mentally ill.
This is the new political schizophrenia. We will see confinements among the alternative media and the veterans for things like ADHD, grieving, normal anxiety, bad eating habits, etc. All of these behaviors and more have been categorized as pathologies under the Obama administration and a supportive American Psychological Association. Virginia has wasted no time getting involved in this new version of the Salem Witch Trials!
Virginia Loves to Steal Children from Parents
In Virginia, Monika Wesolowski had her five year old stolen from her with no charges and no convictions resulting from the courts or law enforcement. They forced Monika to take a psychological evaluation for nearly 8 hours. They tried to poke holes in her parenting skills by proving she could not do math problems or spell certain words properly during the exam. They tested spatial reasoning, her IQ and measured her political beliefs in an attempt to find anything that would disqualify her from regaining custody over her son. These are all items which have NOTHING to do with parenting and are all designed to sustain a diagnosis of mental illness which will allow them to justify the theft of a child. In other words, they were, by default, trying to label Monika as having political schizophrenia.
The Virginia CPS/DFS even tried to unhinge Monika by having its main social worker inform Monika’s ex-husband and his girlfriend where and when Monika would be conducting the psychological evaluation. The couple subsequently showed up, verbally accosted Monika and the presiding psychologist allowed the confidentiality (legal and ethical requirement) of the testing environment to be breached in violation of all ethical and legal standards.
When Monika reacted with fear by the inappropriate confrontation, (Monika at one time had a restraining order on the ex-husband), the psychologist took her emotional upset and reported it in the psychological evaluation’s conclusion. Virginia’s CPS should be getting sued over this breach. Despite this outrageous conduct, the psychological evaluation concluded that the “bond between mother and child is strong…and there is no reason that mother and son should not be reunited”. Yet, six more months have gone by and these wonderful “public servants” in the County Attorney’s office and the CPS have still not returned the boy to his rightful parent.
Please note that I have read the psychological evaluation from cover to cover. I am a former therapist, I have written a university level ethics class and I know how this process is supposed to work. This is third world psychology practices in action, at best. The social worker from DFS, the examining psychologist and the Assistant County attorney should be driven from their positions by the good citizens of Virginia and Fairfax County through whatever legal means are available. Steve Quayle mentioned to me this morning that perhaps we should look at RICO violations in regard to this case.
Despite the conclusion of the psychological evaluation, that judges Monika to be a fit parent, Monika is still without her son. Fairfax County Assistant District Attorney, M. Chris Sigler, at an administrative hearing held this past Thursday told Monika that “You will have to take another psychological evaluation”. Double jeopardy is alive and well in Fairfax County, Virginia. Sigler knows he probably will not win when this goes to court after Monika sues, so he is forum shopping until he gets the psychological diagnosis he desires which will serve to justify the previous child theft by CPS. Political schizophrenia is also alive and well in Fairfax County, Virginia.
The Virginia DFS social worker, Magda Alarcon, is pressuring and coercing the therapist that Monika was forced to obtain, at her expense, to diagnose Monika as being mentally ill. This is the same strategy Assistant County Attorney Sigler tried to employ in the administrative hearing as he demanded a psychological mulligan (i.e. do over) on Monika’s first test. So far, the therapist is refusing to provide the desired diagnosis. The therapist is smart, because Monika plans to sue the aforementioned for violating their fiduciary duties.
I almost forgot to mention that Virginia social worker Magda Alarcon and M. Chris Sigler are attacking Monika’s Second Amendment rights. In the aforementioned hearing, the CPS/DFS stated that Monika poses a threat to her son because she is a registered gun owner and has a conceal and carry permit. Yet, is was permissible that the two foster fathers, who “watched” over Monika’s son are also gun owners. And let’s not forget that the boy went from being potty trained to regressing to diapers, while running around making bizarre gestures with his arms and telling his mother to cut his arms off while in this environment, while in foster care. I cannot say from 2700 miles away, if there was anything being done to this boy. The evidence that Monika showed me was compelling enough that I would have to file an official report if this case were in Arizona where I live. And the CPS should have immediately, the same day, investigated Monika’s claims, but they did not! Even if the boy is being abused, there is no direct proof tying the two foster fathers to any crime. However, it does appear that this child was failing to thrive and that seemed to be OK with the Virginia CPS/DFS for all these months. The duplicity and the danger posed by CPS/DFS to this five year old have been exposed.
Now that Monika has an attorney, the CPS moved the boy away from the two foster fathers. However, they did not acknowledge that their own CPS workers were not following their own policies by putting the boy with two gay fathers, not allowing the boy to practice his Catholic faith and to continue to receive occupational therapy for his autism. All three of these issues violates CPS policy because they are required to place the boy in an environment which closely approximates the home environment of origin. HOWEVER, RATHER THAN CPS ADMITTING THEIR MISTAKES,THEY SAID THEY MOVED THIS BOY BECAUSE OF THE COMMON SENSE SHOW AND THE COMMON SENSE SHOW WEBSITE! Yes, that is correct. At the administrative hearing, this was given as the reason for moving the boy to another foster home with two Catholic parents. It is seven months too late CPS! Further, I want CPS/DFS to be put on notice. I am conferencing with my attorney and one of the topics will be the unfounded and public allegations that my conduct put the two foster fathers in jeopardy. I NEVER ADVOCATE FOR VIOLENCE! These officials are such bullies that they are not used to dealing with a growing number of media, including myself, who are rushing to call attention to a system that is horribly corrupt and violates the Constitution every single day.
Virginia Authorities Are Finally Meeting Their Match
What the corrupt mental health system in Virginia was not counting on was the fact that the director of the Rutherford Institute, John Whitehead, would obtain freedom for so many Virginia veterans who have been falsely institutionalized.
The Virginia CPS and DFS were not counting on a talk show host and an investigative journalist who would look at the facts in this case and decide it was time to make a stand against these kinds of government sponsored behaviors which strips all people of their constitutional rights. If the officials of Virginia only knew the level of media that I am communicating with now, they would give the boy back to Monika and pretend that this whole thing never happened. However, they are playing with taxpayers money and they don’t care how much of the people’s money they waste while trying to justify their self-appointed sense of demagoguery and how it reigns supreme while individual liberties be damned!
The authorities in Virginia need to be also concerned that they are facing a parent who now has an attorney and they just cannot steam roll over this parent like so many that they have legally abused in the past.
The Virginia CPS labeled Monika as a “Level One Child Abuser”. This will keep her from obtaining future employment. They originally asserted that she strangled her son and tried to murder him. Yet, the swat team which accompanied CPS to the child abduction point, saw no reason to arrest Monika and charge her with a crime. A pediatricians report, obtained the next day, which I have read, stated that the red mark on the neck of Monika’s son was dermatitis and not the result of an attack. Now they are trying to justify their child theft with false claims of mental illness and being guilty of the crime of being a registered gun owner.
The authorities in Virginia need to be concerned about much more than a disenfranchised mother and a talk show host. Thanks to the efforts of my colleagues and good men like Mr. Whitehead, my listeners and my readers, all eyes are upon the behaviors of these kinds of “public servants”.
Monika and Dylan Still Need Your Help
I have raised over $23,000 for Monika’s legal defense fund. However, she is probably going to need at least $30,000 to see this through to the end. CPS is willing to spend any amount because it is not their money.
I have included two ways that you can help Monika. And please, no amount is too small whether it is $5, $10 or a $1,000 dollars. We ask for your prayers and your contributions. Help me make this a poster child case for the rest of the country in which parental rights are upheld.
Realted links and earlier articles:
http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/06/17/gerald-celente-monika-wesolowski-430pm-central-today/
http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/05/25/monika-wesolowski-mary-tyndall-may-25-2014/
http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/06/28/dave-hodges-appears-on-the-weekend-vigilante-help-save-5-yo-dylan-wesolowski/
http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/06/23/dylan-wesolowski-the-making-of-another-justina-pelletier-case/
Below are two ways that you can donate to Monika.
Help save & bring home my 5 yr old son (go fund me)
You can donate to Monika with a check and send it to the following address.
Monika Wesolowski
PO Box 40926
1210 S Glebe Rd
Arlington VA 22204-9998
TLB recommends you visit Dave at The Common Sense Show for more great/pertinent commentary, articles, radio shows and information.
See featured article and read comments here: http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/06/30/there-are-no-virgins-in-virginia/