Hobby Lobby to Defy Obamacare Mandate. By Todd Starnes The owners of Hobby Lobby face $1.3 million in daily fines after they decided to obey God rather than the federal government – refusing to comply with Obamacare’s contraception mandate. The act of defiance came one day after Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied Hobby Lobby’s emergency request to block enforcement of the mandate, but said the company may continue its appeal in lower courts. Hobby Lobby is a national arts and crafts chain. They own more than 500 stores in 41 states. The company is owned by the Green family, devout, evangelical Christians. The family believes the Obamacare mandate to provide the morning-after and week-after pills is a violation of their religious convictions. “To remain true to their faith, it is not their intention as a company, to pay for abortion-inducing drugs,” Becket Fund attorney Kyle Duncan wrote in a statement.
But on Jan. 1, Hobby Lobby will face a $1.3 million daily fine if they don’t comply with Obamacare. The Green Family. Four months later, I'm still not over the Obamacare ruling. Four months have passed since Chief Justice John Roberts made Obamacare’s individual mandate a tax and thereby let stand one of the two laws most responsible for our sluggish economy (the other being the Dodd-Frank financial “reform”).
I was in the courtroom that fateful June day and my emotions quickly cycled through shock, denial, anger, and later depression — why had I dedicated myself to the law when the most important case of my lifetime turned out in this illegitimate way? — before settling into the “bargaining” stage of grieving. I’m still there. I just cannot get over that blow against not only sound jurisprudence and the rule of law — bad enough — but against the legitimacy of our government altogether. By recognizing that Obamacare was unconstitutional but shying away from striking it down, John Roberts fundamentally shook my faith in our system of justice.
To be sure, the decision was a win for constitutional jurisprudence in at least four ways: Supreme Court asks DoJ to weigh in on reviving healthcare suit. The Supreme Court is weighing whether it should revive a religious university's lawsuit over President Obama's healthcare reform law. Liberty University is trying to revive its lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in that case after its landmark healthcare ruling this summer, but Liberty says its case presents different issues and should get a new hearing in a lower court. The Supreme Court asked the Justice Department on Monday to respond to Liberty's request for a new hearing. The court rarely grants rehearings, especially on issues it has already decided, and its rules say rehearings are only allowed when circumstances have changed significantly since an appeal was denied.
But Liberty says it meets that requirement. Liberty's case moved through lower courts alongside the cases filed by state attorneys general — including the one that ultimately ended up before the Supreme Court. (96) The Guardian on Facebook. Unhinged Man Attacks Peaceful Group Protesting Obamacare HHS Mandate. Lawmaker to put ‘teeth’ in anti-Obamacare bill. Text smaller Text bigger Oklahoma State Rep. Mike Ritze If one Oklahoma lawmaker gets his way, any federal agent who comes to the Sooner state trying to enforce the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – a.k.a. Obamacare – will face jail time, a $5,000 fine … or both. State Rep. Mike Ritze, R-Broken Arrow, believes Obamacare is blatantly unconstitutional and it is his state’s right and responsibility to declare it “null and void” under the U.S. “I feel very strongly that the 10th Amendment is basically the watchdog of republic,” Ritze told WND. Ritze authored a bill earlier this year, HB 1276, which essentially “nullified” Obamacare in Oklahoma, a controversial approach to fighting the law, but one Ritze believes is legal and justified.
“The Founding Fathers gave us nullification,” Ritze told WND. “They overruled it,” Ritze explained to the Tulsa Beacon. “The committee would not pass that version through,” Ritze told WND. Hands Off My Healthcare. Rep. Steve King Says Obama Is Governing Like a 'King' (CNSNews.com) -- Pointing to the Health and Human Services regulation that will require virtually all health care plans to cover sterilization, artificial contraception and abortifacients for free, Rep.
Steve King (R-Iowa) said that President Barack Obama is governing like a "king. " The mandate, which goes into effect on Aug. 1, requires nearly all health insurers to provide sterilizations, contraceptives, and abortifacients free of charge. President Obama announced the finalized rule on Feb. 10, during a press conference at the White House.
“The rule that was published by [HHS Secretary] Kathleen Sebelius directed even our religious institutions that are health care providers to provide abortifacients, sterilizations and contraceptives free of charge as part of every health care policy that they would offer, even though it violated the deep religious convictions, especially of the Catholic Church, but many others as well,” Rep. King told CNSNews.com. Catholics attending Mass. (AP Photo.) A stunningly dumbfounding move by the Romney campaign. Leading up to the decision on ObamaCare, I gave the Republicans a hard time for not having their act together and being unprepared to handle whatever news came their way from the Supreme Court decision. Then the decision was handed down and the Republicans were tossed a giant hunk of red PR meat: The Supreme Court had ruled that ObamaCare is a tax and a big, fat tax at that, and the only reason ObamaCare was upheld and remains as the law is because it is a tax.
Even the ObamaMedia glommed on to that line: ObamaCare is a tax. From a political standpoint, the Republicans should have been ecstatic. It was a ready-made campaign issue. Obama promised no tax increases on the middle class, and then passed the largest tax increase on the middle class in the history of our Republic. The Democrats, of course, were desperate. Obama sent out his surrogates to the Sunday morning news shows to adamantly proclaim that the tax was a penalty and that’s that. Let’s just make this simple. PPACA Waivers and the Roberts Decision. The Obama administration granted more than 1600 waivers over compliance with parts of the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act.
The Supreme Court ruling that the individual mandate is a tax will not affect the waivers, as they dealt with what kind of insurance people have, not whether they have it. The ruling, and the waivers, point us directly to the disaster that awaits the country unless the PPACA is fully repealed. The PPACA Waivers The waivers were regarding compliance with various stages of the law's implementation. In particular, the PPACA bans annual limits on medical coverage, even though annual limits make it easier to afford insurance. Many of the waivers were for "mini-med" plans, designed to have very low premiums and minimal coverage. As importantly from a cultural standpoint, people who use the fruit of their own labor to purchase health coverage for themselves can say they are independent, functioning citizens not relying on some government program for their needs.
John Roberts’ cocktail party. Text smaller Text bigger Justice John Roberts is now the most historic figure in Washington, D.C. ~ Comments by MSNBC anchor If we sometimes forget that under those black minister robes lie corrupt and corruptible men and women of flesh and blood, then Thursday’s ruling by SCOTUS should have been a sobering wake-up call for all Americans who love and revere the U.S. Constitution. Rush Limbaugh, citing a Politico editorial two days before called “Justice Roberts big moment,” pulled back the veil to reveal the real intent of what was at stake: Will Justice Roberts’ name live on for the ages as a darling of the progressive/liberal establishment and will he be invited to all the “right” D.C. cocktail parties, or will he (like Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia) be treated as a leper in Washington, D.C., and ridiculed on the pages of the Washington Post, L.A.
Times, New York Times and on all the liberal news networks – MSNBC, CBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, et al.? America! Rush: ‘Freedom just met its death panel’ Text smaller Text bigger Rush Limbaugh Limbaugh’s response to the Supreme Court’s Obamacare decision was predictably bold. He declared, “Our freedom of choice just met its death panel: the Supreme Court of the United States.” “What we get today with the Obamacare ruling,” Limbaugh continued, “is the largest tax in the history of the world, [and it] is going to be paid by the uninsured, the very people Obama is supposed to help” (FREE audio). Michael Savage Many were shocked to learn that Chief Justice John Roberts had cast the deciding vote in favor of Obamacare.
Savage said, “If you look at Roberts’ writings, you can see the cognitive disassociation in what he is saying. Savage offered advice for conservatives that came straight from the pages of his bestseller, “Trickle Up Poverty”: use religious freedoms to challenge Obamacare. Savage noted, “Obama has made religious exemptions for healthcare insurance,” including the Amish and Christian Scientists. Sean Hannity Aaron Klein Mark Levin. Supreme Court Health Care Decision: Americans Angry About Obamacare Tweet About 'Moving To Canada' The U.S. Supreme Court upheld President Barack Obama's health care plan on Thursday, in a 5-4 decision. The President's health care plan, considered to be a key part of his domestic agenda, has been opposed by Republicans and many right-wing Americans. Many Americans who were upset at the Supreme Court decision took to Twitter to voice their anger.
Weirdly enough, many Americans tweeted about 'moving to Canada' to escape socialized medicine. "I'm moving to Canada, the United States is entirely too socialist," tweets @wallyweldon. "The supreme court upheld Obama Care. Of course, Canada is no stranger to socialized medicine, with some provinces having universal coverage as early as the 1950s. In fact, Canada's universal health care is one of the things that Canadians can agree on. Of course, some Americans know a bit more about their neighbour to the north. "Hey, Republicans saying they are moving to Canada.... Wait till we tell them about our taxes. Repeal? House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who sets the floor schedule in the House, says the House will vote on the repeal the week of July 9. Senate Republicans may also look to repeal the full law through the budget reconciliation process. This is may be a mistake, and there are two reasons why. The first reason is that there isn’t a very likely chance that repeal will pass in this current Congress.
The second reason is that it gives the Democrats a great talking point, which Obama himself has already hinted at: The Democrats will be able to say that the Republicans are focusing on partisan politics rather than focusing on jobs and the economy. If you really care about liberty and you really care about the snowballing destruction of this nation, focus on November … and I’m not just talking about the presidency. Michael Savage: Roberts affected by medication. Text smaller Text bigger Talk radio host Michael Savage told his listeners today that the use of mind-altering drugs to treat seizures could explain why Bush-appointed Chief Justice John Roberts upheld Obamacare today along with four liberal colleagues.
Roberts shocked most analysts by siding with Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor in a 5-4 decision upholding the lynchpin provision of the president’s signature legislation, the so-called individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act. Savage told his “Savage Nation” listeners that on the way to the studio for his program tonight he visited a world famous neurologist he knows, and they talked about Obamacare. The physician urged Savage to check out Roberts’ history with epilepsy, referring him to a New York Times report in August 2007. Roberts had suffered a seizure 14 years earlier. “Roberts has no logic in what he said,” Savage asserted. Tipping point. Www.foxnews.com/politics/interactive/2012/06/28/supreme-court-rules-on-healthcare-read-opinion/ Supreme Court upholds individual mandate, ObamaCare survives. The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld nearly all of President Obama's health care overhaul, in a landmark ruling that will have sweeping consequences for the economy, the election and America's health care system.
In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled as constitutional the so-called individual mandate requiring most Americans to obtain health insurance starting in 2014. The ruling is a victory for the president, ensuring for now that his signature domestic policy achievement remains mostly intact. It also ensures that the law will play a prominent role in the general election campaign, as Republican candidate Mitt Romney vows to repeal the law if elected.
Obama is expected to speak publicly about the ruling later in the day. Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed during a Republican administration, joined the four left-leaning justices on the bench in crafting the majority decision. The ruling relied on a technical explanation of how the individual mandate could be categorized. Rep. Obama on whether individual mandate is a tax: 'It is absolutely not' FILE: June 20, 2013: The U.S. Supreme Court building, in Washington, D.C.AP Sep 20, 2009 Obama: Mandate is Not a Tax ABC News Interview GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: ...during the campaign. OBAMA: Well, hold on a second, George. That's just piling on. STEPHANOPOULOS: That may be, but it's still a tax increase. OBAMA: No. STEPHANOPOULOS: But it may be fair, it may be good public policy ...
OBAMA: No, but - but, George, you - you can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase. STEPHANOPOULOS: Here's the ... OBAMA: What - what - if I - if I say that right now your premiums are going to be going up by 5 or 8 or 10 percent next year and you say well, that's not a tax increase; but, on the other hand, if I say that I don't want to have to pay for you not carrying coverage even after I give you tax credits that make it affordable, then ... STEPHANOPOULOS: I - I don't think I'm making it up. STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, no, but ... OBAMA: ... what you're saying is ... Cloud looms over Obamacare decision. Text smaller Text bigger A huge cloud looms over the coming U.S. Supreme Court decision on Barack Obama’s health-care law, dubbed Obamacare, that could undermine any portions of the law that are upheld, according to a key Washington watchdog organization. The issue, which has been raised several times by Judicial Watch, is that Elena Kagan served in the Obama administration when the law advanced through Congress and now is on the Supreme Court bench sitting in judgment of it.
“Justice Kagan should provide the American people a full explanation about her refusal to recuse herself in light of the new information about her potential involvement with Obamacare when she served as solicitor general,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told WND. “And the Department of Justice’s stonewall of our information requests shows that [Attorney General] Eric Holder is, once again, in full cover up mode,” he said today. Tribe then responded, “So healthcare is basically done! Top doctor's chilling claim: The NHS kills off 130,000 elderly patients every year. U.K. Professor Claims Doctors Are Initiating the Liverpool Care Pathway too Early and Euthanizing Patients. Another ObamaCare Fatal Flaw (Jonathan Adler)
Rand Paul unveils bold, simple Medicare reform. Our Favorite Bills to Replace ObamaCare. Patient OPTION Act: Replace ObamaCare with Patient-Centered Care. Top GOP Senator Roy Blunt Battles Michelle Malkin On ‘Obamacare’ Michelle Malkin. Obama, the born-again Catholic. Democrats in Congress Second-Guessing Obamacare.
Catholics caught between bishops, Obama’s birth control mandate.