The hits just keep coming.
First it was the HealthCare.gov Web site, whose epic malfunctions have made the ObamaCare portal a punchline for late-night comics. Now the DC Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with two Catholic Ohio businessmen who claim that obeying the contraceptive mandate would mean violating their religious principles.
In her majority opinion, Judge Janice Rogers Brown took no prisoners. The mandate, she says, “trammels the right of free exercise.” She called the government’s justifications for its position “empty, reflexive and talismanic.” At another point, she invoked a Supreme Court case to suggest the flimsy nature of the government’s refusal to accommodate:
“The Government’s argument echoes the classic rejoinder of bureaucrats throughout history: If I make an exception for you, I’ll have to make one for everybody, so no exceptions.”
At issue was the “Hobson’s choice” the businessmen face: violate their faith, or pay a penalty of more than $14 million that would “cripple the companies they’ve spent a lifetime building.”
What makes this case especially interesting is that it involves a for-profit company. Eric Baxter of the Becket Fund puts it this way: “The court is saying you don’t forfeit your religious liberty just because you go into business.”
The decision is a good step forward for religious freedom, a sound rebuke for the Obama administration — and yet another reminder of the overreach that explains why ObamaCare has become such an economic, political and constitutional liability.