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The Lessons of Hobby Lobby

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Given that we now know how broadly exemptions will be construed by Republican judges, this makes sense:

The American Civil Liberties Union, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, Lambda Legal,  the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Transgender Law Center this afternoon announced their withdrawal of support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), because of the inclusion of a religious exemption in the current version of the bill.

In a joint statement, the groups said that in light of “the types of workplace discrimination we see increasingly against LGBT people, together with the calls for greater permission to discriminate on religious grounds that followed immediately upon the Supreme Court’s decision last week in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, it has become clear that the inclusion of this provision is no longer tenable,” because it would prevent the law from having its intended impact: barring discrimination against LGBT people.

Any religious exemption should cover religious institutions qua religious institution, but not religiously-affiliated employers providing secular services and certainly not the religious beliefs of individual owners or secular for-profit companies.  Any exemption but the narrowest will swallow the rule, as we’ve now learned.

Introducing legislation to override Hobby Lobby in the Senate is also a good idea, for exactly the reasons Carmon identifies.  It has no chance of passing the House, but providing a forum for Republican candidates for Senate to express their feelings about contraception for women will almost certainly be a political winner.

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