Second, in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, the court held 5-4 that closely held corporations cannot be required to provide coverage for contraception services for their employees if the owners object to such coverage on religious grounds. Contrary to some early reports, this decision is based on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), and not the First Amendment. (In other words, this is a statutory decision, not a constitutional one.) According to the court the contraception coverage mandate is not the least restrictive means for ensuring access to contraception. In order to reach this conclusion, the court concluded that the RFRA applies to closely held corporations. Justice Alito wrote this opinion, as well. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote a concurring opinion. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the primary dissent, joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor in full and Justices Kagan and Stephen Breyer in part. Justices Kagan and Breyer wrote separately to note that they saw no need to decide whether for-profit corporations or their owners could bring claims under RFRA. I suspect some of us will have more to say about this decision soon. [UPDATE: Here’s a list of recent VC posts on Hobby Lobby, including Eugene’s analysis of the opinion.]