The BURWELL v. HOBBY LOBBY STORES, INC. Supreme Court decision has redefined the fundamental nature of our society. While the Supremes attempted to back-peddle the ruling, claiming its narrow application, the implications of the decision define a new relationship between the employer and employee, and creates a two tier interpretation of the protections under the Constitution. Regardless of the promises and caveats set in the majority decision, BURWELL v. HOBBY LOBBY STORES, INC. will be used as a basis for further law suits and further Supreme Court decisions.
Here's just a few of the implications this ill-considered ruling has to offer:
- Employers' religious belief trump the employees'. As an employer you may now assert your religious beliefs onto your employees even outside the workplace.
- Employers may claw back into justly earned compensation of employees. An employees compensation is not limited to the salary they receive. It includes the benefits such as vacation time, and health care. No one would sit still for an employer that dictates how one may spend their salary. Yet, in essence, this decision allows Hobby Lobby to do just that. Hobby Lobby is now able to direct how health care may be used because the Supreme Court failed to recognize that, as part of the employee's compensation for their labor, the health care benefits belong to the employee, not the employer.
- Other religions will use this to impose constraints on employees. Despite pronouncements by the Supremes to the contrary, this ruling opens the door for other religions to argue against providing portions of the health care benefits. Everyone gets to practice medicine without a license.
- The relationship between the employer and the employee has been redefined. By allowing employers to reach into employees' private lives and control how their compensation is used, the Supreme Court has altered this relationship from a coequal partnership trading labor for wages to that of master and slave.
In the land of the free, some are more free than others. In a nation of equals, some are more equal than others.
To understand where this decision may logically lead, consider just the religious aspects of the decision in these few examples:
- A Jewish or Muslim employer can now make the argument that vaccines or other medications derived from pigs cannot be used under the health care policy.
- An employer that believes in Scientology can argue to deny coverage for psychological treatment or medications to treat bi-polar or schizophrenia disease.
- Jehovah Witness can argue to deny coverage for treatments that involve blood transfusion
This decision goes far beyond the health care aspects. It is not just a women's issue, though they suffer the most immediate effect. This decision affects everybody in that it challenges the understanding between employer and employee. The underlying question to come out of this decision is, "Who owns and controls the compensation the employee receives for their labor?" Judging by this decision, five black robes believe the answer is, "Not the employee."
A revolution is taking place. The Constitution has not just defined the structure and powers of government, but also it limitations. Historically, the amendments have always deprived government of power and rested it with either the people or the states. But the Supreme Court has swept that aside. By decree, the Supreme Court has rendered that obsolete. The Supreme Court has nullified Articles I and II and taken governance unto itself. Not content to simply modify the laws, the Supremes are now redefining the Constitution itself by fiat.
History will judge the wars of the last thirteen years as the battle of the titans against fleas and gnats. Despite the loss of 3,000 civilians and the twin towers, the terrorists' threat to the existence of the United States was nil. Yet we have just lost a major portion of our liberties - not from the muzzle of a gun, but from the stroke of a pen.