The Hobby Lobby Precedent
The Court’s First Look at Contraceptive Coverage in the Affordable Care Act
A 5-4 decision — issued over a highly critical dissent — Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (2014) resolved one of the many challenges raised in response to the contraceptive coverage requirement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Imputing the beliefs of owners of closely held corporations to such corporations, the U.S. Supreme Court found that closely held corporations that hold religious objections to certain contraceptive services cannot be required to provide coverage of those services in employee health plans. The Court’s decision was based on the protections offered under the Federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a statute prohibiting…
