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7 Faulkner L. Rev. 319 (2015-2016)
Closely Held Corporations are Persons: The Supreme Court's Correct and Intuitive Holding in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

handle is hein.journals/faulklr7 and id is 339 raw text is: CLOSELY HELD CORPORATIONS ARE PERSONS: THE SUPREME COURT'S CORRECT AND INTUITIVE HOLDING IN BUR WELL v. HOBB YLOBB YSTORES, INC. Mary Elizabeth Martoranal INTRODUCTION The Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA) states: Government shall not substantially burden a person's exer- cise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general ,,2 Brelv n. applicability .... In Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., the Supreme Court held that closely held for-profit corporations are considered persons under this act.3 In so holding, the Court cleared up previous disagreement among several lower courts as to whether closely held corporations should be given this title and the protection that it affords.4 The Court also held that the contracep- tive mandate promulgated under the Patient Protection and Afford- able Care Act (ACA), 124 Stat. 119 (2012), as applied to closely held for-profit corporations, substantially burdened the free exer- cise of religion for the purposes of RFRA as the mandate did not satisfy the least-restrictive means test that RFRA requires.5 Congress enacted RFRA three years after the Supreme Court decided Employment Div., Dept. of Human Res. of Ore. v. 1 I would like to thank Professor Andy Olree for sharing his vast knowledge of the law and for giving his much-appreciated advice in the writing of this paper. I would also like to thank the members of the Faulkner Law Review Board for the assistance and encour- agement that I received. 2 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-l(a) (2012). This Note does not focus on the merits of RFRA itself. Rather, it looks at cases that are in- structive in interpreting the word persons that is found in RFRA. 3 Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2751, 2769 (2014). 4 See Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. v. Sebelius, 723 F.3d 1114, 1121 (10th Cir. 2013) (hold- ing closely held corporations are persons under RFRA); Korte v. Sebelius, 735 F.3d 654, 659 (7th Cir. 2013) (holding closely held organizations are persons under RFRA); but see Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sec. of the U.S. Dep't of Health and Human Servs., 724 F.3d 377, 381 (3rd Cir. 2013) (holding closely held corporations are not persons under RFRA); Autocam Corp. v. Sebelius, 730 F.3d 618, 621 (6th Cir. 2013) (holding closely held corporations are not persons under RFRA). 5 Burwell, 134 S. Ct. at 2759-60.

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