Why you can blame Bill Clinton for the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision

Why you can blame Bill Clinton for the Supreme Court's Hobby Lobby decision
(Image credit: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)

An ideologically divided Supreme Court ruled today that "closely held" for-profit corporations did not have to provide their employees with contraception coverage if the corporations had religious objections. Crucially, the court's five conservatives did not base their rationale on the First Amendment's protection of religious freedoms, but on a 1993 law known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The law passed with overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate, and was signed by Bill Clinton.

Here's some background from The New York Times:

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Ryu Spaeth

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.