Written by Don Byrd
Members of the U.S. Congress have filed a brief with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was intended to protect corporations like Hobby Lobby from government restrictions like the contraception coverage requirement in the Affordable Care Act. Courthouse News Service reports:
“Congress plainly wrote RFRA to include corporations,” the 29-page brief states.
The congressmen argued that Obama administration has “created a three-tier categorization of religiously objecting employers and have subjected plaintiffs to third-class treatment in the lowest tier.”
“This contravenes the design of RFRA,” they added. “Congress knew that a healthy respect for religious freedom as exercised by a variety of actors would call for various government responses appropriate to the circumstances.”
Kyle Duncan, general counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, says the brief “leaves no doubt” that Congress intended to protect the religious freedoms of those like Hobby Lobby and the Greens against the mandate.
You can read the brief here.
