Court Limits Contraception Coverage Rule
Read it at Associated Press
Hobby Lobby won its battle against contraception at the Supreme Court on Monday, marking the first time the country's highest court held that a for-profit company can hold religious views and have them protected under federal law. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that a small set of privately owned corporations are not required to provide contraception coverage for employees. Hobby Lobby sued the federal government, claiming the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate for employer-provided insurance violated its religious beliefs and First Amendment rights.
"It's the first time that our court has said that a closely held corporation has the rights of a person when it comes to religious freedom," Hillary Clinton said in response to the decision. "I find it deeply disturbing that we are going in that direction."
The court ruled that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) allows for family-owned and closely held for-profit companies to enjoy the same exemptions as nonprofits for contraception objectors. The five conservatives who sided with Hobby Lobby qualified their opinion, though, making clear that the decision only applies to the contraception mandate. Authoring the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said “Our decision should not be understood to hold that an insurance-coverage mandate must necessarily fall if it conflicts with an employer’s religious beliefs.” Other insurance mandates, like blood transfusions or vaccinations, may still proceed. The court also stressed that the ruling does not protect employers from engaging in illegal discrimination under the pretense of religious faith.
Birth-control coverage is one of the preventative services mandated to be free to employees under Obamacare. To maintain this regulation, Alito said there were two options. One, the federal government could pay for contraceptive services directly. Or two, as is the case with nonprofit, religious-oriented groups, employers could notify the government of their objections and shift the burden of coverage to third-party administrators or insurers.
In her dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg denounced the ruling, saying “it discounts the disadvantages religion-based opt-outs impose on others, in particular, employees who do not share their employer’s religious beliefs.”
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| Ukrainian soldiers are detained June 28 by pro-Russia separatists after the separatists seized a national guard base in Donetsk during the unilateral cease-fire proclaimed by President Petro Poroshenko. (European Pressphoto Agency) |
TRUCE EXPIRES
Ukraine Prez: We Will Attack Separatists
Read it at The Los Angeles Times
"We will attack and free our country," President Petro Poroshenko posted on his website. In a phone call with French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukraine was urged to sign a genuine ceasefire and set up international monitors on the Russian-Ukrainian border.
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GM Breaks All-Time Record for Recalls
/Reuters Read it at Detroit News
One recall for unintended ignition key rotation covers
6.8 million vehicles in the United States including the 1997-2005 Chevrolet
Malibu; 1998-2002 Oldsmobile Intrigue; 1999-2004 Oldsmobile Alero; 1999-2005
Pontiac Grand Am; 2000-05 Chevrolet Impala and Monte Carlo; and 2004-08 Pontiac
Grand Prix.
The other covers about 620,000 2003-14 Cadillac CTS,
2004-06 Cadillac SRX cars.
Earlier this month, GM recalled about 4 million cars
for ignition switch problems in two separate campaigns. GM linked its recall of
3.4 million Impalas and other cars to eight crashes and six injuries. GM also
recalled more than 510,000 current-generation Chevrolet Camaros for ignition
switch problems linked to three crashes in which air bags failed to deploy.
Unlike in the Cobalt recall, GM is not replacing the
switches in any of these new recalls. It is adding new key inserts or using a
new key ring to prevent the fob from getting jostled.
GM also announced four other smaller recalls Monday,
with only one resulting in an injury.
■189,000 2005-2007 Buick Rainier, Chevrolet
Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Isuzu Ascender, Saab 9-7x, 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer
EXT, GMC Envoy XL vehicles are being recalled for the second time because of an
electrical short in the driver’s door that could disable the lock and window
switches, and in rare cases overheat the door control module. In August 2012, GM
had opted to offer special coverage rather than a recall; but after pressure
from NHTSA, the automaker agreed to the recall last year to add a protective
coating, inspect the module and replace if necessary.
After fires were been reported since the initial
recall — including some with completed repairs — GM will now replace the door
control module in all vehicles.
■20,000 models of the 2011-14 Chevrolet Cruze, 2012-14
Chevrolet Sonic and 2013-14 Chevrolet Trax, Buick Encore and Verano are being
recalled because the heater power cord may become damaged during very cold
conditions. One injury has been reported, GM said.
■About 100 2014 Chevrolet Camaro and Impala and Buick
Regal cars are being recalled because they may not have had a joint fastener
tightened to specification at the assembly plant.
■12,000 2007-2011 Chevrolet Silverado HD, GMC Sierra
HD trucks with auxiliary batteries because an underhood part could melt because
of an electrical overload.
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Ruling Against Union Fees Limits Damage to Labor
The Supreme Court dealt a limited blow to organized labor on Monday by ruling that some government employees did not have to pay any fees to the unions representing them. But the court declined to strike down a decades-old precedent that required many public sector workers to pay union fees. Writing for the 5-to-4 majority, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. concluded that there was a category of government employees — a partial public employee — who can opt out of joining a union and not be required to contribute union fees.
Justice Alito wrote that home-care aides who typically work for an ill or disabled person, with Medicaid paying their wages, should be classified as partial public employees and should not be treated the same way as public schoolteachers or police officers who work directly for the government.
The court’s decision, on behalf of the five most conservative justices, was a partial, but not total win, for labor’s critics. And while labor sustained a defeat in this ruling, it did not amount to a crippling loss that unions had feared. If the court had overturned the precedent requiring many government workers to pay union fees, it could have greatly reduced the membership and treasuries of public-employee unions. Several legal experts said Justice Alito evidently had tried unsuccessfully to obtain the needed votes for a broader decision to overturn that precedent. Justice Alito wrote that unions played such a limited role for “partial public employees” like home-care aides that these aides should not be required to pay union fees. Indeed, he wrote that such a requirement would violate their First Amendment rights. He noted that states often set wages for these workers and that unions often did not bargain for them.