Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Birth Control and Hypotheticals at the U.S. Supreme Court

NPR's All Things Considered of March 25 has a report about the recent oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court about a requirement in the Health Care Act that employers provide birth control. Two companies, Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood, contend that the Constitution's freedom of religion means that their insurance coverage for employees shouldn't have to provide something that is against their (the companies') religious principles. The story describes a series of hypothetical questions the justices asked the lawyers arguing the cases that are good examples of how legal questions are examined in U.S. law. 6 min 33 sec, transcript available.
More about this case — an interview with Amy Howe and Pete Williams who were in court for the oral arguments. 19 min, no transcript available.
You can find a full transcript of the oral arguments on the Supreme Court website here. The audio recording is now available here.
An analysis of the case by a constitutional law professor, Michael Dorf, can be found here. At the bottom of the page there is an audio link to Professor Dorf's reading of his article. 9 min 21 sec, transcript available.