By Constitution Staff

The U.S. Supreme Court granted a landmark victory for religious liberty on June 30 when it ruled that individuals do not lose their religious freedom when they open a family business. The decision resolved two cases that were joined by the court involving businesses privately held by Christian families: Hobby Lobby, controlled by David Green and his family, of Oklahoma City; and the Hahns family who own Conestoga Wood Specialties, a cabinet maker based in Pennsylvania. The justices ruled that the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) protects the businesses from financing coverage for contraceptive methods mandated by the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). The RFRA was passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

Both families had challenged the so-called contraceptive mandate saying it forced them to either violate their faith or pay fines. The government defended the provision as an essential part of health care coverage for women. Under the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate, Hobby Lobby faced $475 million per year in fines ($36,500 per employee) for not providing the mandated coverage. Or, if the company discontinued its insurance benefits for employees and directed them to the ObamaCare exchanges, Hobby Lobby would have been fined about $26 million per year ($2,000 per employee).

"This is a landmark decision for religious freedom. The Supreme Court recognized that Americans do not lose their religious freedom when they run a family business," said Lori Windham, Senior Counsel for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and counsel for Hobby Lobby. "This ruling will protect people of all faiths. The Court's reasoning was clear, and it should have been clear to the government. You can't argue there are no alternative means when your agency is busy creating alternative means for other people."

In the decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a June 2013 ruling by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals protecting Hobby Lobby and the Green family from the ObamaCare contraceptive mandate. That mandate required Hobby Lobby and co-founders David and Barbara Green to provide and facilitate, against their religious convictions, four potentially life-terminating drugs and devices in the company's health insurance plan. The Greens and their family businesses have no moral objection to providing 16 of the 20 FDA-approved contraceptives under the HHS mandate, and will continue to provide a broad range of contraceptives at no additional cost to their employees.

In their order following the ruling, the high court clarified that businesses could object to any or all of the 20 mandated contraceptives if the owners had a religious objection. The orders apply to companies such as those owned by Catholics who oppose all contraception. The Supreme Court's decision allows closely held companies (corporations with more than 50 percent of stock owned by five or fewer individuals) to opt out of the contraception mandate. There are at least 80 other companies fighting to be the next Hobby Lobby. More than 50 for-profit companies and 59 non-profits have been filed lawsuits against the ACA's contraception mandate. The majority of those rulings had been stayed by courts pending the resolution of Hobby Lobby's case.

"Our family is overjoyed by the Supreme Court's decision. Today the nation's highest court has re-affirmed the vital importance of religious liberty as one of our country's founding principles," said Barbara Green, co-founder of Hobby Lobby. "The Court's decision is a victory, not just for our family business, but for all who seek to live out their faith. We are grateful to God and to those who have supported us on this difficult journey."

The majority opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito, and he was joined by Chief Justices John Roberts, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Justice Anthony Kennedy filed a concurring opinion. In the opinion by Justice Alito, the Court stated: "The plain terms of RFRA make it perfectly clear that Congress did not discriminate . . . against men and women who wish to run their businesses as for-profit corporations in the manner required by their religious beliefs. . . . Our responsibility is to enforce RFRA as written, and under the standard that RFRA prescribes, the HHS contraceptive mandate is unlawful." The court rejected the government's claim that neither the owners nor their corporations could make a religious liberty claim. "Protecting the free-exercise rights of corporations like Hobby Lobby and Conestoga protects the religious liberty of the humans who own and control those companies," wrote Alito.

Alito said the court had "little trouble" concluding that the HHS contraceptive mandate substantially burdens the exercise of region: "The Hahns and the Greens believe that providing the coverage demanded by the HHS regulation is connected to the destruction of an embryo in a way that is sufficient to make it immoral for them to provide the coverage." Alito further said: "The Government has failed to show that the contraceptive mandate is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest."

In his concurrence Justice Kennedy added: "Among the reasons the United States is so open, so tolerant, and so free is that no person may be restricted or demeaned by government in exercising his or her religion."

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the dissent in the 5-4 decision, and was joined by Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Steven Breyer. In her dissent Ginsburg disagreed with Alito and expressed concern about other challenges that could come as a result : "Reading the Act expansively, as the court does, raises a host of "Me, too' questions. Can an employer in business for profit opt out of coverage for blood transfusions, vaccinations, antidepressants, or medications derived from pigs, based on the employer's sincerely held religious beliefs opposing those medical practices."

With over 13,000 full-time employees, Hobby Lobby is by far the largest of the private companies protesting the law. The arts and crafts retailer operates from a 5.2 million-square-foot manufacturing, distribution and office complex in Oklahoma City. It began as Greco Products, a miniature picture frame company founded in a garage by David Green in 1970. Hobby Lobby officially began operation in 1972 with a single store and has been growing ever since. It now has 603 stores in 47 states (626 stores by the end of 2014) offering more than 65,000 crafting and home decor products. Also included in the lawsuit is Mardel Christian & Education owned and operated by members of the Green family, which is a chain of 35 stores selling Christian books and education supplies in seven states.

The Greens have long been public about their religious beliefs and close all of their stores on Sundays. "We believe wholeheartedly that it is by God's grace and provision that Hobby Lobby has been successful," says David Green.. The Green family owns the world's largest collection of Biblical antiquities, and the family is a generous contributor to numerous Christian organizations across the nation and the world.

The case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. was consolidated before the Supreme Court with Conestoga v. Burwell. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty represented Hobby Lobby, Mardel and the Greens together with Paul D. Clement of Bancroft, PLLC, who presented the oral argument before the court in March. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions -- from Anglicans to Zoroastrians. For 19 years its attorneys have been recognized as experts in the field of church-state law. The Becket Fund won a 9-0 victory in Hosanna-Tabor v. EEOC, which The Wall Street Journal called one of "the most important religious liberty cases in a half century." The Becket Fund led the charge against the HHS mandate, and in addition to Hobby Lobby represents: Little Sisters of the Poor, Guidestone, Wheaton College, East Texas Baptist University, Houston Baptist University, Colorado Christian University, the Eternal Word Television Network (ETWN), Ave Maria University, and Belmont Abbey College.

Just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta granted the EWTN Global Catholic Network an injunction preventing the government from enforcing the HHS contraceptive services mandate against the Network. The injunction allows EWTN to continue its court challenge of the mandate without incurring the fines of $35,000 per day that would have begun on July 1. "This has been a very good day for religious liberty in America," said EWTN Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Michael P. Warsaw. "The Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case was a great affirmation of the constitutional right to freedom of religious expression. While the Hobby Lobby decision did not directly resolve EWTN's case, this afternoon's injunction from the appellate court allows us to press forward without facing the government's crushing fines."

EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 33rd year, is available in over 230 million television households in more than 140 countries and territories. With its direct broadcast satellite television and radio services, AM & FM radio networks, worldwide short-wave radio station, Internet website www.ewtn.com, electronic and print news services, and publishing arm, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world.

Oklahoma U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D called the Supreme Court's decision in the Hobby Lobby case a victory for all Americans. "The Court wisely affirmed that it is wrong for the government to violate the freedom of conscience and religious liberties of American citizens," said Dr. Coburn. He said the case was not about access to birth control, but government coercion. " This case was about the federal government forcing Hobby Lobby's owners to choose between paying for life-ending drugs and devices and violating their beliefs, or crippling their business. I'm pleased the Court ruled in favor of freedom."

The Hobby Lobby headquarters is located in the congressional district of Oklahoma Congressman James Lankford. Lankford, who won the Republican nomination to succeed Coburn in the U.S. Senate, commented on the ruling: "In addition to the religious liberty victory, this decision also limits this Administration's capacity to fine faith-based companies out of existence for failing to comport with the President's beliefs. Since the case centers around companies with greater than fifty employees, it would have created an arbitrary change in citizen rights and companies who grow past fifty people. The Court rejected the argument that if your company grows past fifty people, you lose your religious freedom."

There were a few critics of the high court ruling. The Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice (OCRJ) saw the decision as a setback for women. "Employers will potentially be able to establish discriminatory policies against women or presumably any employees on the basis of religious belief," said Marion Homier, OCRJ Vice-President. Martha Skeeters, President of the OCRJ, said: "This decision not only obstructs women employees' access to a full range of affordable birth control, but also threatens all employees with potential limitations on health care such as Scientologists refusing to cover psychiatry or Jehovah's Witnesses refusing to cover surgery with blood transfusions. This decision also raises the spectre of civil rights abuses where, for example, employers might refuse to hire from some groups because they regard divorce, or IVF treatments or gay marriage as sinful."

The Greens initially lost in federal district court, Oklahoma's western district, when Judge Joe Heaton ruled that the Greens had to obey the federal mandate, regardless of their religious objections. Sadly, Heaton was at one time a Republican leader in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.