Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
 

IdaBriggs

(10,559 posts)
Wed Feb 5, 2014, 09:54 AM Feb 2014

"Almost none of the briefs filed on Hobby Lobby's behalf came from secular corporations."

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/02/hobby_lobby_contraception_mandate_challenge_why_have_corporations_refused.html

Silence Inc.: What side has corporate America taken in the Hobby Lobby challenge?
By David H. Gans

Almost none of the briefs filed on Hobby Lobby's behalf came from secular corporations.

This spring, the Supreme Court will decide—for the first time in our nation’s history—whether secular, for-profit corporations are entitled to invoke the constitutional guarantee of the free exercise of religion. The stakes are huge, as the justices will determine whether business corporations can claim a religious exemption from federal laws that protect the rights of their employees. You would think that corporations, which routinely jump in to protect their interests at the high court, would have weighed in on an issue of such significance. But not this time. Indeed thus far, the response of the business community has been near-total silence.

Last week, more than 80 friend-of-the-court briefs were filed in the cases brought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood—an arts-and-crafts chain and wood manufacturer, respectively—challenging the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employer health plans cover the full range of Food and Drug Administration–approved contraceptives for their employees. The mountain of amicus briefs covered an incredible terrain of legal issues: the framers’ understanding of the free exercise right, the history of the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence on corporate personhood, the court’s cases interpreting the Free Exercise Clause, and the history leading to the passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Many briefs were filed on behalf of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, including important support offered from members of Congress, state governments, scholars, theologians, and a number of religious businesses, groups, and organizations. But almost none of those briefs came from secular businesses. Not one Fortune 500 company filed a brief in the case. Apart from a few isolated briefs from companies just like Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, the U.S. business community offered no support for the claim that secular, for-profit corporations are persons that can exercise religion.

(snip)

Hobby Lobby and its supporters have made much of the fact that a large majority of friend-of-the-court briefs were filed on their side, but the only noteworthy corporate voices to weigh in—the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce—actually came down against them. These groups in fact urged the justices to see that recognizing a corporate right to the free exercise of religion would wreak havoc in corporate boardrooms across the country. These two chambers of commerce—whose corporate partners include many of the nation’s biggest corporations, including Google, American Express, and JPMorgan Chase & Co.—explained that recognizing a corporate right to free exercise of religion would hamper, not aid, the efficient organization, management, and operations of American business, embroiling businesses in disputes over what are essentially individual religious beliefs. The groups pressed the argument that, far from protecting business interests, the act of creating a corporate right to the free exercise of religion would complicate corporate governance and destabilize the market, giving a competitive advantage to corporations that could claim a religious exemption from laws applicable to other businesses.

These arguments were seconded by a group of corporate law scholars, who argued that Hobby Lobby’s argument would eviscerate the fabric of corporate law, undercutting the corporate veil that protects owners and shareholders from liability for the actions of the corporation. Filed on behalf of some of the nation’s most-well-respected corporate law scholars, the brief urges the justices to reject Hobby Lobby’s invitation to ascribe the religious views of Hobby Lobby’s individual owners to the corporation itself. Why? Because contrary to the most fundamental precepts of corporate law, Hobby Lobby’s approach would treat the owners and the corporation as one and the same. This would undermine the basis for limited liability as well as other aspects of corporate law designed to encourage entrepreneurial activity by business leaders, lending by investors, and risk-taking by corporate managers. Such an unprincipled, idiosyncratic exception from corporate law fundamentals, the scholars argued, would breed confusion in the law, lead to costly litigation, and undermine critical aspects of corporate law designed to spur creativity and innovation. Perhaps this is why groups like the chamber are sitting this one out.

(snip - more at link)


Interesting...

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»"Almost none of the ...