Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com
You’ll recall that after SB1062, the bill that would give business owners and individuals the “religious freedom” to discriminate, went down in flames due to intense public and business lobbyist pressure against it, I observed that it was very much an anti-choice bill in addition to an anti-LGBT one.
We really did dodge a bullet and at risk of sounding cynical, I’m glad the focus was on LGBT discrimination from a purely tactical standpoint in addition to the moral and human rights ones. Having it framed as targeting LGBT citizens was what brought the fiercely negative reaction in the media and the organized business community around to kill it. But make no mistake, this was also very much an anti-choice bill. CAP spokesman Aaron Baer cited Hobby Lobby in a TV interview as an example for why SB1062 was needed. Had contraception access been the main public focus – and I bet CAP wishes like hell it had – there’s a good chance the bill would have been quietly signed into law with nary a peep from the Chamber of Commerce crowd because sluts.
And now Hobby Lobby and other employers with a creepy fixation on their female employees’ private lives uh “moral objections” have won the right to deny women contraception in the health plans (that those women earn through their labor and pay premiums on*), Center for Arizona Policy President Cathi Herrod is positively giddy and making no bones whatsoever of her intention to bring SB1062 back.
“One of the provisions of the Supreme Court ruling was to clarify that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act would apply to corporations,” said Center for Arizona Policy President Cathi Herrod, whose advocacy group wrote SB 1062. “SB 1062 said the exact same thing.”
Herrod said attorneys are still going through the lengthy ruling to determine how it could be applied to future state legislation, including a revised version of SB 1062 next session.
“Clearly the court has signaled that that there is a broad application for an individual or corporation to claim their religious beliefs,” she said. “But we’ve got between now and January to see what the appropriate next steps will be and we absolutely will continue our efforts to protect religious freedom in Arizona.”
You better believe that this time they’ll make sure the focus is sluts, sluts, sluts to quell objections from the business community.
*In advance of any “why don’t you just pay for it yourself!” trolling. Save it. We do pay for it already.
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She’s a zealot, and zealots don’t stop.
As the owners of Hobby Lobby have successfully pierced the corporate veil to impose their religious views on their employees, I think it only right that it goes both ways. So any litigation against Hobby Lobby should also pierce the corporate veil and go directly towards the owners wallets. Perhaps then they would back off.
Yep, that’s the smart move now.
If I were a person already involved in a premises injury lawsuit with Hobby Lobby, I would be meeting with my attorneys asap.
Now that SCOTUS has effectively introduced “Legal Kryptonite” into the so-called Corporate Shield, lawsuits of any kind filed against privately held Hobby Lobby, Inc can be adjusted to include every stockholder that they have. Every incorporated business stockholder is now an identifiable “Person” of that business, and stands completely exposed as a target for litigation.
This falls under the admonition to “Be Careful What You Wish For”
The only thing that will save us is the attack that will come down on “Corporate status” regarding the corporate veil. SCOTUS just removed any separation of the corporation and the individual. Next, the IRS declares HOBBY LOBBY a sole proprietorship.
This victory dance will not last long 🙂