A crack in Citizens United? “Secular” companies cannot impose religion on workers
The Cincinnati appeals court ruled this week that a company cannot enforce religious views in the form of birth control coverage limitations to it’s employees, even if the owners or executives otherwise object.
Under the ACA, Businesses with more than 50 employees must provide insurance to employees, or pay fines. Covering Birth Control is legally required.
Effectively, the original Judge found that secular, for profit companies do not have religious exemptions in the same way that a single person or religious organization does.
Better still, the 6th Circuit Appeals court effectively throws a monkey wrench in Citizen’s United:
“The legislative history makes no mention of for-profit corporations,” Judge Julia Smith Gibbons wrote in the decision. “This is sufficient indication that Congress did not intend the term ‘person’ to cover entities like Autocam.”
In other words, the appellate court is very clear here — they don’t buy into the “Corporate Personhood” lie that has infested American law over the past 100 years. The same Corporate Personhood falsehood that has been used to allow infinite money to Judge Roberts’ friends political campaigns.
The christian cultist involved can still appeal this to the Supremes, which would be an interesting mess — do they continue down the rabbit hole of Citizens United, or do they try to clarify or even backtrack? Or do they punt and wait for an easier case to come along that brings up these questions?