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Religious Liberties for Corporations? Hobby Lobby, the Affordable Care Act, and the Constitution

In an engaging new book, David Gans and Ilya Shapiro provide a comprehensive analysis of the issues in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the blockbuster legal challenge to the Obamacare regulation that required employer-sponsored health plans to provide “free” contraceptive coverage. In a series of debates, these opposing advocates examine whether for-profit corporations can assert religious-exercise claims under federal law, whether businesses (or their owners/​directors/​officers) with religious objections should be exempt from coverage requirements, and what the consequences would be if the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby. The Court’s decision will be discussed for years and this spirited debate will provide fascinating and informative food for thought for scholars, students, and the public as they grapple with fundamental questions of corporate personhood, religious liberty, and health care policy. Please join us for a reprise of these debates, with commentary by the architect of the constitutional challenge to Obamacare’s individual mandate, Professor Randy Barnett.

Featuring
Ilya Shapiro

Former Vice President and Director, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute

David H. Gans
Randy E. Barnett

Patrick Hotung Professor of Constitutional Law at the Georgetown University Law Center