Burwell V. Hobby Lobby Stores Corporate exercise of religious freedom is continually a source of contention within the United States. Many argue that corporations are not entitled to the rights and liberties of citizens. Some, however, believe that these corporations act as an extension of the people running them. Either argument has significant implications on the national level. In this paper, I will analyze the cause, reasoning, and effects of the Supreme Court’s decision on Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores and provide my critical observation of the case. With the adoption of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA), companies are required to provide “preventive care and screening” without “any cost sharing requirements” to women under specific employee health plans, in accordance with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) (111th Congress, 2010,
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By being considered “closely held” the corporation would be able to say that religious beliefs constitute business interests (Scalia, 1990,p. 1604). The court gathers that stemming from Hobby Lobby Stores’s statement of purpose, which commits the Green family to abiding by their religiously held views in all that they do, to include operation of the company, Hobby Lobby Stores is a “closely held” corporation. This is further enforced by numerous efforts by Hobby Lobby Stores to engage in accordance with this statement of purpose, such as closing on Sundays, discouraging the sale of alcohol, donating to Christian missionaries, and public outreach through advertisements. Essentially, the court finds that these actions sufficiently display how closely held Hobby Lobby Stores is to the Greens. Further influencing the court, was the determination that Hobby Lobby Stores’s religious integrity has never been disputed (Alito,
By being considered “closely held” the corporation would be able to say that religious beliefs constitute business interests (Scalia, 1990,p. 1604). The court gathers that stemming from Hobby Lobby Stores’s statement of purpose, which commits the Green family to abiding by their religiously held views in all that they do, to include operation of the company, Hobby Lobby Stores is a “closely held” corporation. This is further enforced by numerous efforts by Hobby Lobby Stores to engage in accordance with this statement of purpose, such as closing on Sundays, discouraging the sale of alcohol, donating to Christian missionaries, and public outreach through advertisements. Essentially, the court finds that these actions sufficiently display how closely held Hobby Lobby Stores is to the Greens. Further influencing the court, was the determination that Hobby Lobby Stores’s religious integrity has never been disputed (Alito,