1 July 2014

Walsh criticizes Hobby Lobby decision, but holds some ﬁre

After the Hobby Lobby decision (PDF) was handed down, Democratic Sen. John Walsh issued a short statement, from which the following is excerpted:

…employers have no right to deny women basic health coverage for birth control, and noted that Congressman Steve Daines’ aggressive anti-choice policies are an even greater threat to women’s health care:

Today’s ruling means women could pay hundreds of dollars more per month because their bosses get to determine the type of health care they receive. The decision echoes a disturbing effort by Montana’s Congressman to deny women everywhere their fundamental freedom to private health care. Congressman Daines would go even farther and outlaw common forms of birth control for all women. We cannot allow Washington to infringe upon the right to make private health choices.

I agree with Walsh as far as he went, but he could have gone a lot farther. As Talking Points Memo’s Sahil Kapur reports this morning, Hobby Lobby could affect millions:

“Most American businesses are closely held corporations so that’s not a significant restriction on the scope of its ruling. Some people are saying the ruling doesn’t go so far because it only applies to closely held corporations. But that’s the vast majority of corporations in America,” said Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA School of Law.

The Supreme Court didn’t define “closely held,” but legal experts say businesses will look to the IRS, which says a closely held corporation as one in which 50 percent of the value of its outstanding stock is owned by five or fewer individuals.

So how many of those are there in America? A 2000 study estimated that more than 90 percent of American businesses are closely held, a number that could be different today, but it’s hard to say by how much. Another study, one conducted by Columbia University in 2009, found that closely held corporations employ about 52 percent of the U.S. labor force. That’s over 75 million Americans; the labor force has more than 150 million workers, according to the World Bank.

In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg insisted that the ruling was much broader than the conservative justices were willing to admit. She torched it as “a decision of startling breadth” which paves the way for corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships to “opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

There are at least four takeaways from Hobby Lobby that Walsh could have underscored:

Had we adopted an everyone covered for everything federal single-payer health care system financed by progressive taxes, the issues leading to Hobby Lobby never would have arisen.

Reactionary Catholic theology carried the day. Pope Francis notwithstanding, the Catholic Church remains an authoritarian institution that seeks to incorporate its opposition to abortion and contraception into civil law and force all Americans to abide by its doctrines. All of the justices in the majority (Roberts, Alito, Kennedy, Scalia, Thomas) are Catholics.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 was a mistake that should be repealed.

Corporations not only prey on people, now they have a constitutional right to pray on people.

But Walsh didn't mention these takeaways. Nor will he. Neither will John Lewis. Democrats are afraid to support a single-payer system or to vigorously criticize any religion.