Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Hobby Lobby, Opens Door to Religious Objections to Statutes Covering Employers

On June 30, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that closely held, for-profit entities with religious objections to certain aspects of the birth control mandate imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“the ACA”) could avoid the mandate by invoking the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).1 While the majority expressed intent to limit its holding to the facts of the cases before it, the decision’s language may open the door for a variety of religious objections to generally applicable federal laws. Whether employers should actually raise those objections is discussed later in this article.