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posted by janrinok on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the companies==people-er-does-not-compute dept.

gishzida writes:

"According to a Reuters report Supreme Court signals support for corporate religious claims, "The U.S. Supreme Court appeared poised on Tuesday to open the door to companies' religious-based objections to government regulations as justices weighed whether business owners can object to part of President Barack Obama's healthcare law. From the article:

During a 90-minute oral argument, 30 minutes more than usual, a majority of the nine justices appeared ready to rule that certain for-profit entities have the same religious rights to object as individuals do. A ruling along those lines would likely only apply to closely held companies. As in most close cases of late, Justice Anthony Kennedy will likely be the deciding vote. Based on his questions, it was unclear whether the court would ultimately rule that the companies had a right to an exemption from the contraception provision of President Barack Obama's 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.

The dozens of companies involved in the litigation do not all oppose every type of birth control. Some object only to emergency contraceptive methods, such as the so-called morning-after pill, which they view as akin to abortion.

The case marks the second time Obamacare has featured prominently before the Supreme Court. In 2012, the court upheld by a 5-4 vote the constitutionality of the act's core feature requiring people to get health insurance. Although the case has no bearing on the overall healthcare law, it features its own volatile mix of religious rights and reproductive rights. A capacity crowd filled the marble courtroom, while outside hundreds of demonstrators, most of them women, protested loudly in an early spring snowstorm.

We already know that the SCOTUS thinks corporations are citizens, do you think the SCOTUS should allow corporations to have religious beliefs too?"

 
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  • (Score: 2) by cwix on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:15PM

    by cwix (873) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:15PM (#21777)

    Looks like they are doubling down on that whole corporations are people idiocy.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by compro01 on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:18PM

    by compro01 (2515) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:18PM (#21779)

    Maybe we can get them to triple down and declare the stock market illegal, as they're trading in the ownership of people, and thus it's prohibited by the 13th amendment.

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by dast on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:50PM

      by dast (1633) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:50PM (#21791)

      Seriously. If corporations are people, all those idiots on Wall Street are slave traders. /me grabs machete. "REVOLUTION!"

    • (Score: 1) by J.J. Dane on Thursday March 27 2014, @04:06PM

      by J.J. Dane (402) on Thursday March 27 2014, @04:06PM (#22100)

      Well, if corporations are people then people, obviously, are corporations, which can be bought and sold...

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by fliptop on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:48PM

    by fliptop (1666) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:48PM (#21790) Journal

    that whole corporations are people idiocy

    How is it idiocy? If the gov't regulates corporations, they have the same rights to speak, protest, petition, etc. as the individual does.

    --
    Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:04PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:04PM (#21796)

      I concur, lets next give them the right to vote. At the same time we should uphold things like the death penalty against them.

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by sgleysti on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:16PM

        by sgleysti (56) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:16PM (#21804)

        Corporations, at least the wealthiest ones, have something far more powerful than the right to vote: they have the ability to buy politicians. It is they who are truly represented in the U.S. government.

      • (Score: 1) by dast on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:29PM

        by dast (1633) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:29PM (#21814)

        Since corporations are the only entities SCOTUS seems to want to allow religious freedoms for, I say only corporations should be eligible for the death penalty. When I get the right to ignore the law on religious grounds, then, sure, make me eligible too.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday March 27 2014, @01:41AM

      by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Thursday March 27 2014, @01:41AM (#21857)

      How is it idiocy? If the gov't regulates corporations, they have the same rights to speak, protest, petition, etc. as the individual does.

      In the U.S. corporations only exist because they have legal status granted by states with acts of law, not by the Constitution. Their status can be revoked or changed by additional acts of law, and should the laws granting them their status be found as unconstitutional in courts of law their status can be altered as a result. Individuals have rights (on paper anyway) guaranteed in the Constitution that states cannot infringe upon. That seems to point to different status for corporations and individuals, regardless of whether corporations are composed of individuals or not.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 27 2014, @10:58AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 27 2014, @10:58AM (#21981) Journal

        Even so, you can't unconstitutionally violate rights just because certain people have a privilege. Perhaps you think that the TSA doesn't grope privileged commercial air passengers enough? Or government shouldn't be required to compensate privileged property owners when eminent domain is used?

    • (Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday March 27 2014, @09:13AM

      by sjames (2882) on Thursday March 27 2014, @09:13AM (#21958) Journal

      Corporations don't actually have any right to exist at all. Unlike actual people, they only exist by a grant from the government that they are in no way Constitutionally guaranteed.

      If the government didn't regulate corporations, they wouldn't exist. Instead the individual owners would have joint personal responsibility for it's actions. That would extend to financial responsibility.

    • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday March 27 2014, @03:35PM

      by tangomargarine (667) on Thursday March 27 2014, @03:35PM (#22088)

      Your normal citizen does not have the right to take away other people's rights, though.

      Oh wait...we're talking about paying medical costs for contraceptives. Do we have a legal right to contraceptives? Hmm.

      Still. Isn't a box of The Pill once a month for...I dunno, 10 bucks? a hell of a lot less expensive for the company than maternity leave and medical expenses of actually giving birth? Or should I assume these are the same companies that give you the bare minimum legally required amount of maternity considerations or, even better, find a reason to fire you anyway.

      Stop being dicks, business owners.

      --
      "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
  • (Score: 1) by sgleysti on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:19PM

    by sgleysti (56) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:19PM (#21806)
    This is mildly on-topic.

     
    I've been listening to noam chomsky lately, and I'm dying to know: is he for real? From your comment here, it seems like you might know.

    • (Score: 1) by dast on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:31PM

      by dast (1633) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:31PM (#21815)

      Although I don't agree with all of his (political) views, I don't think anyone can seriously doubt he believes what he espouses.

      • (Score: 1) by sgleysti on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:38PM

        by sgleysti (56) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:38PM (#21821)

        I suppose I meant to ask if what he says is actually true. That matters most to me.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:32PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:32PM (#21818)

      No where close to being on topic.

      • (Score: 1) by sgleysti on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:40PM

        by sgleysti (56) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:40PM (#21822)

        Chomsky talks a lot about this kind of thing. It's close from the other side.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Thursday March 27 2014, @01:59AM

      by Thexalon (636) on Thursday March 27 2014, @01:59AM (#21862)

      Noam Chomsky is absolutely for real. And listening to him is at least a good way of learning exactly how much to trust most news you read or especially watch: not much more than the Russians trusted Pravda.

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.