Home » Family Owned Conestoga Wood Specialties Files Lawsuit Against Obamacare with Supreme Court
Founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. David Green has been embattled in a fight against the Obamacare mandate for some time now. Last year, Hobby Lobby took on the Obama administration, claiming that mandating that employers provide employee insurance that includes abortifacients which murder unborn children violating the First Amendment, which restricts Congress from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Now, family owned Conestoga Wood Specialties in Pennsylvania is engaging in the same battle.
Norman Hahn, Elizabeth Hahn, Norman Lemar Hahn, Anthony H. Hahn, and Kevin Hahn, who own Conestoga Wood Specialties, are a Mennonite family. Their company manufactures custom wood kitchen cabinet parts which reflects their convictions of doing their work as unto the Lord. They family also believes in the sanctity of human life.
The petition filed with the Supreme Court explains, “the Hahn family and their close identification with Conestoga exemplify the case for allowing for-profit businesses and their family owners to live their faith as they participate in the marketplace. If anyone subject to the contraceptive-coverage Mandate can claim free exercise rights, they can.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is representing the Hahns in a federal lawsuit (Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Sebelius) against the Obama administration over its abortion pill mandate. This is the same mandate that Hobby Lobby has been fighting and which Christian Publisher Tyndale House prevailed against.
Yes, the Sebelius the company is up against is Barack Obama’s Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a known violator of federal law, who still has not been held accountable for her crimes.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom:
Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Pennsylvania family and its woodworking business asked the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday (Sept. 19) to hear its lawsuit against the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate, which could cost the family nearly $3 million per month in fines if it doesn’t agree to live contrary to its Christian convictions. It is the first Supreme Court petition in a case challenging a direct ruling on the mandate.
A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit decision against the Hahn family and Conestoga Wood Specialties, who are challenging the legality and constitutionality of the mandate, runs counter to decisions issued in other circuits and to the vast majority of court rulings on the mandate so far.
CEO of Conestoga Wood Specialities Anthony Hahn.
“All Americans, including family business owners, should be free to live and do business according to their faith,” said Senior Counsel David Cortman. “A major aspect of freedom is at stake: if the government can force the Hahns to violate their faith just to engage in their livelihood, then the government can do the same or worse to others.”
“The question is whether the government can pick and choose what faith is, who the faithful are, and when and where they can exercise that faith,” added Senior Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “The cost of religious freedom for the Hahn family and many other job creators across the country who face this mandate is severe. The potential for massive fines and lawsuits would cripple their businesses and threaten jobs.”
“How can the government tell families operating businesses that they can no longer apply their convictions in the workplace? Living consistently with one’s beliefs is a basic tenant of a free society,” said Randall Wenger, who is an allied attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom.
If you recall, Hobby Lobby’s David Green faced opposition in court as the Obama administration demanded that Hobby Lobby must obey the employer mandate. Even Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denied a request by Hobby Lobby to block part of the federal health care law that requires employee health-care plans to provide insurance coverage for the morning-after pill and similar emergency contraception pills.
While, Hobby Lobby continued their fight, defying the federal government and risking millions in fines. The craft giant also garnered the support of millions of Americans. Finally, they found a loophole in the Obamacare mandate that bought the company some time and saved them millions of dollars in fines, and in June a federal appeals court ruled that Hobby Lobby stores won’t have to start paying millions of dollars in fines for not complying with the mandate.
The Hahns will be facing similar circumstances, but they are not as big of a company as Hobby Lobby. I recommend giving your support to the Hahns and Conestoga Wood Specialties your support. You can visit their website here.
Alliance Defending Freedom told Freedom Outpost they expect the Supreme Court to Decide whether to hear the case or not by the Spring of 2014.
Don’t forget to Like Freedom Outpost on Facebook, Google Plus, & Twitter. You can also get Freedom Outpost delivered to your Amazon Kindle device here.
Tagged with
