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Applying The New Framework For Hobby Lobby

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With the compatibility standard, Congress and the Court can still choose to apply the “least restrictive” method aspect of the Sherbert test but it becomes almost redundant at this point. Where the Sherbert test assumes that religion and law are at odds such that ensuring government interest must somehow infringe on free exercise, the compatibility test already assumes that law and religion live together in harmony without overly restricting one or the other. Because of such an assumption, the least restrictive method as a standard can be, but does not need to be applied.
Applying the new framework to Hobby Lobby reveals how granting the religious exemption to closely held corporations can not only coexist with the government’s interests of making sure female employees have access to the four controversial contraceptives, but it also best ensures this interest. For the sake of argument, let’s first consider what would happen without the exemption. Closely held corporations would have three choices. They could either ignore their religious convictions, provide incomplete healthcare coverage by paying an extra $100 per day per employee fee, or offer no coverage and pay $2000 per year per employee (11). However, these companies will almost never choose to ignore their beliefs, therefore really only giving them the latter two choices. In the event of the second choice, women would be offered no alternative, affordable healthcare option that grants them access to the

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