THREE MARTINI LUNCH: JUNE 30, 2014

Jim and Greg discuss today's big Supreme Court decisions, Nancy Pelosi's insanity on the border, and bizarre accusations over a House seat in Oklahoma.



Hobby Lobby attorney: We'd be thrilled to stay out of employees' birth-control choices

With progressives having a meltdown over the relatively narrow result of Hobby Lobby this morning, the attorney for the winning side provided a little reality check outside the court. Lori Windham represented Hobby Lobby's owners in the court case, and CNN caught up with her outside shortly after the ruling was announced. Windham proclaimed this "a great day for religious freedom," but when the CNN reporter offered the argument that the ruling allowed employers to get between a woman and her doctor on birth control, Windham bristled:

CNN: We heard the demonstrators today saying, "Look, the employers should stay out of our business," that this decision will now essentially bring the employer into what should be a very private decision-making process between a woman and her doctor, now that the justices ruled that Hobby Lobby no longer has to cover four types of contraception. What do you have to say to the other side?

WINDHAM: Hobby Lobby would love to stay out of this, and leave this decision to a woman and her doctor. It's the federal government that told them that they had to be involved and cover these things, even though they violated the Green family's faith.

No kidding. Windham expertly skewers the "keep your rosaries off of my ovaries" argument in connection with the HHS mandate, which argues simultaneously that birth control is a private choice but that employers should directly foot the bill for it. A truly private choice would be between a woman and her doctor with the woman paying for whatever choice she makes. And that is still the case now, even post-Hobby Lobby, since this case has nothing to do with access to contraception — merely who pays the bill.

The Supreme Court ruling has some interesting language in it, mainly regarding the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) that passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan Senate vote (97-3) and was signed into law by Bill Clinton. HHS had argued that it didn't apply to corporations, especially for-profit corporations, but the court rejected that argument.

Also read:

5 Major Takeaways From The Hobby Lobby Decision

6 Stupid Arguments About Hobby Lobby From Dumb Liberals