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“Hobby Lobby Granted Full Hearing on HHS Mandate”

Which many of you may not have heard about, because it doesn’t fit the narrative that questions about ObamaCare’s constitutionality were settled when John Roberts found “this is not a tax” should be interpreted as “of course, this could be construed as a tax, as it acts like a tax, so let’s just call it that and get to work implementing this thing — while the liberal newspapers get to work lauding my reasonableness.”

Washington Examiner:

It was a Good Friday for craft retailer Hobby Lobby as the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced on Friday it would grant the retailer’s request for the entire court to hear its challenge on the Obamacareabortionmandate. While appeals are usually decided by a three-judge panel, a total of nine judges will hear the Hobby Lobby appeal.

The Hobby Lobby lawsuit is among a total of 52 current lawsuits challenging the Obamacare mandate. Along with others Hobby Lobby has challenged the Obamacare mandate that forces employees to provide for emergency contraception. Hobby Lobby founder David Green and his family believe that some types of emergency contraceptives, including the morning after pill are forms of abortion.

Kyle Duncan, General Counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty told LifeNews: “We are grateful that the court granted Hobby Lobby’s petition. Full court review is reserved only for the most serious legal questions. This case asks whether the First Amendment protects everyone’s right to religious freedom, or whether it leaves out religious business owners like the Greens.”

Of course, empaneling the full court might just mean that the 10thUS Circuit Court of Appeals wants there to be no doubt that, when reasoned through, first amendment protections don’t override mandates to buy a product the federal government not only designed but then requires you to purchase under penalty of a “non-purchase of what the federal government demands you purchase tax.”

That is, this could be a set-up, with the end game being the Court telling Americans that, if you are, say, a young male priest, eg., of course you need health insurance that covers your contraceptives and abortifacients.  Because equality can only be achieved through homogeneity and conformity.

And that’s what the Constitution demands — and almost certainly what the founders and framers had in mind when they drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

(h/t JHo)

58 Replies to ““Hobby Lobby Granted Full Hearing on HHS Mandate””

  1. Reminds me of an attitude mocked by Kenneth Clark in Civilisation, that whatever is not forbidden must be made mandatory.

  2. I’m not sure the 10th is as scatterbrained as the 9th — but then, the 9th actually made sense once recently so the world might very well be upside-down after all.

  3. Ernst Schreiber says:

    That is, this could be a set-up, with the end game being the Court telling Americans that, if you are, say, a young male priest, eg., of course you need health insurance that covers your contraceptives and abortifacients. Because equality can only be achieved through homogeneity and conformity.

    I get the absurdity of gender equality in this instance, but I think you’re point would be clearer if you changed “young male priest” to “elderly cloistered nun.”

    Or maybe it’s just me that thinks the pointlessness of the expense is as relevant than the absurdity.

  4. DarthLevin says:

    Ernst, you should just shut up and be happy that Obamacare makes sure you can have your mammograms covered, as well as your wife’s prostate exams.

  5. dicentra says:

    Because equality can only be achieved through homogeneity and conformity.

    Yet more evidence that the Left wants to encode gender obliteration in the law so that we can’t argue against it in real life.

  6. Dale Price says:

    I get the absurdity of gender equality in this instance, but I think you’re point would be clearer if you changed “young male priest” to “elderly cloistered nun.”

    Except that it’s already been done to the nuns:

    http://www.littlesistersofthepoor.org/44-news-a-events/303-update-on-our-position-on-the-hhs-mandate

  7. mondamay says:

    This is good news.

    Did anyone see the Pacific Legal Foundation challenge based on the origination of “tax” legislation from the Senate rather than the House?

    Of course Obamacare had already flipped back and forth from “tax” to “penalty” repeatedly since it wasn’t really supposed to be eligible for hearing if it was a tax, as no one had been taxed yet.

    Who needs a “rule of law”, and wouldn’t we all rather be ruled by nice people in robes, anyway?

  8. Squid says:

    Because equality can only be achieved through homogeneity and conformity.

    We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all humans are created exactly the same, that they are born with certain unchangeable desires that never vary one to another, and that these desires can only be provided by an all-powerful State.

  9. cranky-d says:

    What we really need to do is to continue to devalue life so we can let the old people die instead of treating them. After all, they’re better of that way and so are we, right?

  10. gender obliteration

    The English language already pretty much obliterated gender; we don’t have different articles for masculine or feminine, and what gender rules we do have track almost perfectly with the biological sex of the subject or object.

    Which is undoubtedly why “sex” and “gender” get used virtually interchangeably in English but rather less often in languages like German (where the word for “boy” is feminine and the word for “girl” is neuter).

    I wonder whether that has anything to do with the obliteration of biological sex as an immutable human trait in our thinking these days, especially as English has become the present-day lingua franca?

  11. leigh says:

    mondamay, is it too much to hope that CJ Roberts is actually an evil genius working for good and not evil when he left that door wide-open for a Constitutional challenge?

    Btw, I am glad you are commenting after lurking for so long. It took me many years to de-lurk, as well.

  12. mondamay says:

    Btw, I am glad you are commenting after lurking for so long. It took me many years to de-lurk, as well.

    Thanks. The comments here are great: funny and insightful (but even better when incite-full).

  13. Scott Hinckley says:

    wouldn’t we all rather be ruled by nice people in robes, anyway?

    Well, maybe if they were pretty women in terrycloth bathrobes…..

    A bunch of old farts in dull black robes? Not so much.

  14. dicentra says:

    I wonder whether that has anything to do with the obliteration of biological sex as an immutable human trait in our thinking these days, especially as English has become the present-day lingua franca?

    It’s certainly much easier to avoid mentioning a person’s sex in English: doctor, engineer, dentist, etc. Romance languages already use male gender the default (they don’t have neuter).

    I also reckon that we’ve been using “gender” as a replacement for “sex” now that the term “sex” is used to describe something you’ve done or “had,” rather than using the various colorful euphemisms that used to abound.

    I had a Chinese friend who, when she was tired, would accidentally refer to her son as “she” or her daughter as “he”; apparently, Mandarin doesn’t use gendered pronouns, so she had to think about it as part of the second language instead of it coming naturally.

    I’ve found that I never confuse the linguistic gender in Spanish when saying “he” “she” “him” “her,” because those pronouns are gendered in English as well. OTOH, when it comes to gendering adjectives and (in)definite pronouns, especially when they’re removed from their referents, I often flub, because I have to think about it. Natives chide, saying “it’s easy,” and it is, conceptually, but in execution it’s hard if you’re not used to it.

    Consequently, those whose native languages are gendered no doubt have an easier time adopting the gendering of another language than we do.

    Here’s an example: la mano, which in both Spanish and Italian means “the hand,” and in both languages the article does not appear to match the noun in gender. However, MANUS was borrowed into Latin from the Greek, and in Greek, “hand” is a feminine word. So they kept the masculine-looking ending and slapped on the feminine articles and adjectives.

    Weird. Me, I’d have called it el mano and got on with it.

  15. El Mano is what grows hair on the palm.

  16. If anyone asks me if I’ve had sex, I will hereafter reply, “I am sex. Male, if you need to ask.”

  17. SBP says:

    I’m going to be showing up at the clinic and demanding my Pap smear every year, you can bet.

  18. newrouter says:

    don’t fluke with us you h8ter

    “He was conflicted with owning a company that would provide the types of insurance that he finds morally offensive and objectionable,” said attorney Thomas Mathews.

    In working with its current insurance company, Medica, American Manufacturing was able to cut the birth control coverage from an existing group health insurance plan.

    Now, it awaits a decision on two other preliminary injunctions in the 8th Circuit of federal district courts.

    Mathews says he’s been interviewed by the New York Times about his case, and counsel for the case has told him this might be used as precedent in a Supreme Court decision.

    Mathews said he’s seen “some negative reaction from those who don’t understand Greg’s deep conviction with this.”

    He said it’s not a case of anti-feminism, as some have alleged, but it’s motivated by deeply-held Catholic beliefs.

    St. Joseph company receives injunction from provisions in Care Act

  19. leigh says:

    Make sure you go for the mammogram, too Spies.

    Having your breast crushed on an x-ray plate is lots of fun!

  20. I’ve just linked Chris Matthews with a 10-point decline in the average IQ of people who watch NBC-owned TV channels.

  21. Ernst Schreiber says:

    If anyone asks me if I’ve had sex, I will hereafter reply, “I am sex. Male, if you need to ask.”

    Trust me, “I am sex. Male if you need it” will only get you slapped.

  22. SBP says:

    leigh: remember when “tit in a wringer” was just a figure of speech?

    I’ll get a mammogram if the wimmenfolk agree to get prostate exams.

  23. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I’m pretty sure that became a figure of speech entirely by accident. Literally.

    Here’s an OT that parents of school-age children should appreciate:

    My eldest (same grade as Satchel) got bullied into participating in some sort of anti-bullying workshop/encounter group thing.

    How’s that for absurdist?

  24. palaeomerus says:

    Chris Matthews’ mouth is a vast gateway by which the primordial stupidity reenters our universe and sows the seeds of what Robert Heinlein refers to as the “bad luck” that chases the stupid and lazy through history. Or perhaps the bad luck is being dragged by a leash?

  25. Bob Belvedere says:

    -Dicentra wrote: Yet more evidence that the Left wants to encode gender obliteration in the law so that we can’t argue against it in real life.

    You probably should have worded it this way: Yet more evidence that the Left wants to encode [fill in the blank] obliteration in the law so that we can’t argue against it in real life.

    The Left wants to obliterate every bloody thing The West stands for.

    -Scott: Those of us men who married good-looking gals are already ruled by ‘pretty women in terrycloth bathrobes’.

  26. palaeomerus says:

    Here’s how it has been explained to me.

    Heteronormative sexuality is a social construct that can be easily manipulated by the attitudes of one’s peer group and the media one consumes. It is also tiresome and unfairly advantaged in our society and so should be pants-ed and smacked around where possible to keep it docile and eager to kowtow.

    Homosexuality and queer sexuality proceeds from a single cause, is genetic, is a result of congential neurological wiring, and any attempt to change it or moderate it, or even any implicit suggestion of a discouragement of its practice, is a form of senseless futile torture that reflects a barely hidden atavistic cultural desire for the genocide of such people. Such presumed desires for torture/genocide are strangely viewed as tolerable in other cultural contexts (like Islamic countries) even when explicitly and literally propagated and executed.

    But HERE opposition to gay marriage IS by default a precursor to genocidal rage. Resistance to any activity thought to benefit a queer agenda advocacy in some way is an indicator of genocidal intent and must be met with the fiercest condemnation. If someone happens to shoot up an office they saw mentioned in a SPLC “hate” map, and throws Chick-fil-a sandwiches around then that someone is a hero, and those gay hating jesus bothering fuckers had it coming. Bullying and violence are completely wrong and must be stopped, even if only implicit or interpreted, and if stopping them requires nominally illegal militant actions (bullying and violence).

    Shooting the designated fair game is fine, because the victims of the act are really oppressors and may be rightfully transformed into stationary on which the militant activist may print a righteous message about which way the wind is blowing.

  27. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Heteronormative sexuality is a social construct that can be easily manipulated by the attitudes of one’s peer group and the media one consumes.

    If that were true, how come the crab people’s near continual attempts to turn me gay over the past ten, fifteen years, have failed?

  28. Patrick Chester says:

    @palaeomerus: Did you ask where the pony was? With all that horsecrap there’s bound to be one nearby. /optimist

  29. leigh says:

    Yesterday, I was told that I was un-American to deny gays their “right” to marry.

    I told the person who said this that they were trying to force me to embrace their POV through name calling and that was nothing short of bullying.

    This exchange went back and force for awhile, wherein they hauled out the old horse chestnuts of miscegenation laws and even slavery. I set fire to all of these straw men after which I was called a bigot and a Traditionalist (I guess that is now a bad thing) after I refused to play their reindeer game of using their rules to make my argument. When I helpfully pointed out that the person was calling me names again, rather than making an actual point, they suddenly had to leave.

    Heh.

  30. happyfeet says:

    hobbity lobbity boo

    i would like to have friday off Mr. hobby lobby I have an abortion scheduled that day

    well you can’t have it off we need you to demonstrate about the macrame

    can’t norma do that she makes the macrame real good mine gets all twisty

    no we need you to do it

    okey doke I’ll see if I can push my appointment back

  31. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Is your assholish assholery congenital or, were abused somehow?

  32. Ernst Schreiber says:

    My poor composition is environmental

    or maybe chemical.

  33. leigh says:

    Maybe he’s friends with Hart Williams now, Ernst.

  34. palaeomerus says:

    “If that were true, how come the crab people’s near continual attempts to turn me gay over the past ten, fifteen years, have failed?”

    It may not be true, but it’s definitely New-True(tm)! which is almost as good, if you aren’t a psychotic hate spewing bigot blocking the road to Utopia with your heteronormative patriarachal colonialist racist whitey-money-privilege programming installed in your false consciousness.

  35. palaeomerus says:

    “i would like to have friday off Mr. hobby lobby I have an abortion scheduled that day”

    No you are supposed to say that you have a safe and rare, tax payer subsidized, reproductive health choice to make .

    Get your fucking magical bullshit straight.

  36. happyfeet says:

    it’s congentigal I think mama said if I keep runnin my mouf like that one day I’m a regret it

    I said mama let’s go get some enchiladas

    and that sounded like a pretty good idea to her

    but when we got there she had a chalupa with charro beans on the side

  37. palaeomerus says:

    Sonograms are rape. Maybe legitimate rape. Maybe illegitimate. Akin Palin shuffle follows. Ashley Judd nods wisely and thinks of the night she was attacked by Apple.

  38. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Maybe I’m just addicted to [vulgarity deleted].

  39. palaeomerus says:

    I liked them better when they still had bangs but it ain’t my decision so I just have to cope.

  40. Ernst Schreiber says:

    it’s congentigal

    You know what you ought to do? You ought to stand outside an abortion clinic and hand out stickers, like they do on election day. That would be way super cool like Glee: the complete series on Blue-ray.

  41. happyfeet says:

    Mr. Glee is in rehab we love you Cory

  42. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Maybe you should try some therapy yourself. Work out those mommy and daddy issues that compel you to make a jackass out of yourself on a subject you know nothing about.

  43. happyfeet says:

    papa can you see me

  44. palaeomerus says:

    pinball ain’t the answer.

  45. Danger says:

    hobbity lobbity boo

    i would like to have friday off Mr. hobby lobby I have an abortion scheduled that day

    Bah humbug, Obamacare lover!

  46. happyfeet says:

    i hate obamacare so much it’s truly and genuinely actively ruining people’s lives

  47. Danger says:

    ” ” give these a lift to the appropriate sentances above please.

  48. Danger says:

    “i hate obamacare:

    Then why root against the forces blowing up the bridge foundation?

  49. guinspen says:

    i heart uncleerniefoot

    he’s got spunk

  50. palaeomerus says:

    “i would like to have friday off Mr. hobby lobby I have an abortion scheduled that day”

    Actually we will be cutting your weekly hours back to 30. Win Win eh?

  51. palaeomerus says:

    Oh don’t look at me like that. Off you go dear. ‘Hills like White Elephants’ and all that. It’s no trouble at all. Snip snip. Don’t let a hatey old lifey doodle like me hold you up. Megan McCain wouldn’t like me anymore if I dared to cast the merest shadow on your sacred choices. After all I’m not a Bloomberg. It’s sunshine and lilac petals all the way to the office door! Why you can skip there if you want to! It’s your body. You can’t let some nebulous mystery tissue run your life! Why who can say what that is? That’s above the president’s pay grade.

  52. Slartibartfast says:

    he’s got spunk

    Just so long as he keeps his spunk off the comments section, I have no problem with that. Some Windex and paper towels, followed up by a quick going-over with antibacterial wipe ought to do it.

  53. Slartibartfast says:

    where the word for “boy” is feminine and the word for “girl” is neuter

    Der Junge is male. Das Mädchen is, as you pointed out, neuter.

    Maybe there’s another word for boy that I am overlooking.

    I used to joke that in Germany, girls didn’t become female until they married and became Die Frau (Das Fräulein is also neuter). But my mother, a feminist, didn’t think that was funny.

  54. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Oh don’t look at me like that. Off you go dear. ‘Hills like White Elephants’ and all that. It’s no trouble at all. Snip snip. Don’t let a hatey old lifey doodle like me hold you up. Megan McCain wouldn’t like me anymore if I dared to cast the merest shadow on your sacred choices. After all I’m not a Bloomberg. It’s sunshine and lilac petals all the way to the office door! Why you can skip there if you want to! It’s your body. You can’t let some nebulous mystery tissue run your life! Why who can say what that is? That’s above the president’s pay grade.

    On a more serious note, how long is it going to be before some entity, government or private decides they’ll cover an abortion, but not pre-natal care, delivery costs, etc. because either the mother or the baby or both are deemed a poor health risk?

    And how long before the nudge (go ahead and have your birth-defect riddled baby, you forty six year old former crack whore, but you’ll have to pay for it yourself) becomes a shove (thirty two year old former crack whores are deemed poor parenting risks –your termination and tubal ligation is scheduled for…)?

  55. Squid says:

    That’ll never happen, Ernst. Special-needs crack babies are a vital part of the demographic trends the Democrats rely on to stay in power.

  56. Ernst Schreiber says:

    It’ll happen Squid. It just won’t happen until the Democrats decide they no longer need special needs crack babies to stay in power.

  57. Slartibartfast says:

    Just seen on Instapundit:

    MICHAEL Z. WILLIAMSON ON FACEBOOK:

    You know how that person shouting the loudest about teh gheys is usually trying to hide an uncomfortable fact about themselves?

    What about the person accusing everyone else of racism?

    Heh. Indeed.

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