What is the best way to balance religious freedom and the public interest?
Federal judges can take one of two approaches when they are confronted with a case that invokes religious beliefs to challenge a law.
In some cases the beliefs are subordinated to the public interest – the federal government, for instance, forbids polygamy (marriage to more than one person) even though some religious traditions promote that practice.
In other cases, the religious beliefs are privileged – Hobby Lobby employee medical insurance doesn’t cover access to emergency contraception or two types of IUDs since the corporation’s religious beliefs clash with certain types of contraception.