With regard to today’s oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in the religious freedom case of Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby, Sean Lengell writes:
Liberal-leaning Justice Elena Kagan suggested the businesses can decide not to provide health care coverage for their employees if they pay a $2,000 per-employee penalty — a scenario she said would save the companies money. Then, if the companies wanted to ensure their employees had health care, they could raise their salaries so employees can buy private coverage.
“This is a choice here,” Kagan said. “It’s not the kind of thing that’s going to drive somebody out of business. It’s not prohibitive.”
But Justice Antonin Scalia scoffed at the notion that such a scenario wouldn’t be a significant financial burden for the companies.
And now you know what Justice Kagan thinks of religious liberty — not much. Evidently she’s OK with government imposing itself on business — as long as it doesn’t “drive somebody out of business.”
Terrific.
