Late Sunday evening, Federal Judge Lawrence Zatkoff of Michigan ruled that Domino’s Pizza would not have to provide contraceptives or abortion services to his employees under Obamacare.
Zatkoff wrote that the founder of Domino’s, Thomas Monaghan, had “shown that abiding by the mandate will substantially burden his exercise of religion… The government has failed to satisfy its burden of showing that its actions were narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest. Therefore, the court finds that plaintiffs have established at least some likelihood of succeeding on the merits.”
Media outlets reporting the story invariably mentioned that Zatkoff is an appointee of President Ronald Reagan. They rarely do the same with regard to liberal rulings by judges.
The Obama administration can now appeal the case to higher levels. The Domino’s ruling is in line with rulings from two other federal appeals courts in Chicago and St. Louis that granted stays from the Obama contraceptive mandate.
Monaghan protested against Obamacare on the grounds that contraception and abortion are not “health care” and that “causing death can never be considered a form of medical treatment.” The highest ranking judge to rule for the Obamacare mandate is Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who said in a December 26 order that the Supreme Court has not ruled on whether religious freedom trumps federal mandates.
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