Craft store Hobby Lobby filed papers with the Supreme Court on Monday asking it to look at its case against the Obama administration’s mandate that the company pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs for employees.
The Health and Human Services mandate, Hobby Lobby argues, violates their religious freedom.
A federal court has already ruled in the Christian company’s favor, reports LifeNews.com.
In July, a federal court granted Hobby Lobby a preliminary injunction against the HHS abortion-drug mandate. The injunction prevented the Obama administration from enforcing the mandate against the Christian company, but the Obama administration appealed that ruling recently. The government’s appeal makes it highly likely that the Supreme Court will decide the issue in the upcoming term. […]
"Hobby Lobby’s case raises important questions about who can enjoy religious freedom," said Kyle Duncan, general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and lead lawyer for Hobby Lobby. "Right now, some courts recognize the rights of business owners like the Green family, and others do not. Religious freedom is too important to be left to chance. The Supreme Court should take this case and protect religious freedom for the Green family and Hobby Lobby."
Duncan said last June the Christian-owned and operated business won a major victory before the en banc 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected the government’s argument that the Green family and their family-owned businesses, Hobby Lobby and a Christian bookstore chain named Mardel, could not legally exercise religion.
The Obama administration filed their papers with the Supreme Court in September to appeal the ruling.
If the Supreme Court decides to take up the case, it would likely be argued and decided before the end of the Court’s term in June.
Hobby Lobby is not the only company to choose that it could not comply with the HHS mandate. An attorney for the company says that there are currently 63 separate lawsuits challenging the mandate.