Can the federal government require a private employer to provide a service or product to employees that violates the private owner’s freedom of conscience?

Hobby Lobby & Religious Freedom Jurisprudence

by Matthew Franck

Can the federal government require a private employer to provide a service or product to employees that violates the private owner’s freedom of conscience? 

This is the subject that is up for debate in an upcoming US Supreme Court case pitting Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties against the Health and Human Services contraception mandate that is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Prof. Matthew Franck, director of the William E. and Carld G. Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution at the Witherspoon Institute, provides us with the background to this case, the historical precedents that may influence how it is decided, and his review of what each side will be arguing in late March.

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Read more: www.researchonreligion.org

RELATED LINKS

• Matthew Franck’s bio at the Witherspoon Institute.
• “When Government Does Theology,” by Matthew Franck (at the Canon & Culture blog).
• “Escaping the Excemptions Ghetto,” by Matthew Franck (at First Things … available in March 2014).
• Against the Imperical Judiciary: The Supreme Court against the Sovereignty of the People, by Matthew Franck.

RELATED PODCASTS

• Matthew Franck on Hosanna-Tabor and Ministerial Exemptions.
• David Cortman on Religious Liberty Updates.
• Phillip Muñoz on Catholic Bishops, Religious Liberty, and Health Care Mandates.
• Jeremy Lott on Episcopalians, Ex-Athiests, Health Care, and German Circumcision.