Former Senator and Secretary of State (and possible/probable presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton criticized the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby ruling:
"It's the first time that our court has said that a closely held corporation has the rights of a person when it comes to religious freedom," she said during a Q&A at the Aspen Ideas Festival. "I find it deeply disturbing that we are going in that direction."
"It's very troubling that a sales clerk at Hobby Lobby who needs contraception, which is pretty expensive, is not going to get that service through her employer's health care plan because her employer doesn't believe she should use birth control," she continued.
TPM
I agree. Damn disturturbing.
When asked about the fact that her husband Bill Clinton signed the law at issue, Hillary Clinton contended that "[t]his is certainly a use that no one foresaw." Id. Yes, that's "judicial activism," taking a law far beyond its intent and treating a corporation as flesh and blood person with religious beliefs. (It was a bad law in 1994, but never intended to operate in this fashion) Hobby Lobby is bad law and will go down in history as this generations' Lochner. It will be overturned as soon as one of the Sexist 5 passes on or retires, provided we keep a Democratic president and Senate. Corporations are getting all the rights of personhood and limited liability.
Leaving aside views on a potential presidential run by Hillary Clinton, I think this issue is right in her wheelhouse. Hillary Clinton has the "street cred" by having been the most viable woman presidential candidate ever in 2008, and the front runner now, to articulate and focus the anger of women and male supporters over the Republican war on women. Republicans are praising the idea that a company boss can take away your right to insurance coverage of birth control.
Women vote, and getting more women to vote in these midterms, especially in red states where women are running for the Senate (Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina, and Kentucky) can help save the Senate.
I hope Hillary campaigns heavily in these Senate races in 2014 on these issues.
Update I: From cassandrax in the comments, quoting an Atlantic article. Link in her comment (and more):
“I disagree with the reasoning as well as the conclusion,” Clinton said, almost before Isaacson had his question out. “I find it deeply disturbing.”
snip
“Part of the reason I was so adamant about including women and girls [in State Department efforts] is that they’re often the canaries in the coal mine,” Clinton explained. “It is a disturbing trend that you see in a lot of societies that are unstable, anti-democratic, and prone to extremism. Women’s bodies are used as the defining and unifying issue to bring together people—men—to get them to behave in ways that are disadvantageous to women but prop up rulers.”
Now, she said, something similar was happening in the United States, where religion was worming its way into government. “Many more companies will claim religious beliefs. Some will be some sincere, others maybe not. We’re going to see this one insurable service cut out for many women,” she said. “This is a really bad, slippery slope.”
Clinton wasn’t done comparing the contemporary situation to theocratic societies. A few moments later, while discussing the persistent gridlock in Washington, she said anyone whose platform to run for office was a refusal to compromise ought to be disqualified from office. “That’s the kind of language I heard from people in 112 countries, where they believed they had a direct line to the supreme leader or the divine.”