Is a corporation a person and can it be religious?

Guests: Dahlia Lithwick and David Skeel

Can a company have religious beliefs or is religion only for people? That’s the issue at the core of two cases the Supreme Court will hear this spring in response to the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that corporations must offer their employees insurance that covers contraception. The cases involve Hobby Lobby, owned by a Christian couple, and Conestoga Wood Specialties whose owners are Mennonite. Both say they object to the birth control requirement which would include coverage for “abortion-causing” ’drugs. To help us understand the specifics of these cases, what they say about religious freedom in America, and their wide-ranging impact we’ll turn to DAHLIA LITHWICK who writes about courts and the law for Slate and University of Pennsylvania corporate law professor DAVID SKEEL.