When Persons Become Firms and Firms Become Persons: Neoliberal Jurisprudence and Evangelical Christianity in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc

IN JUNE 2014, in a 5 to 4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that, under the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”), owners of corporations cannot be forced to provide their employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives that offend the owners’ religious beliefs.¹ Hobby Lobby, a national chain of craft stores, was joined in the suit by Conestoga Wood Specialties, cabinetmakers in Pennsylvania. Both are what the Court calls “closely held” (as opposed to shareholder) corporations and are owned and controlled by Christian families who believe that life begins at conception and that any contraceptive method destroying or preventing implantation of