On her Monday program, MSNBC’s Joy Reid tried to give an overview of the issues surrounding the Hobby Lobby/Conestoga Wood Specialties case being argued before the Supreme Court today. She began with an explanation of how corporations gained peoplehood, but ended by implying six observant Catholic Judges could not rule fairly on the case.
Here is a video clip (money quote begins at 1:21). A transcript follows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1lTLsck6SOw
Now, the most famous use of corporate personhood was Citizens United, which opened the door to corporate people spending lots of money to sway elections. The new cases ask whether corporations are not just people, but people who can have religious beliefs. Can the Hobby Lobby Craft Store chain, and Conestoga Wood Specialties of Pennsylvania claim that covering contraception in their employees’ health plans violates their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration act, which says government can’t substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion? And can a New Mexico photographer refuse to shoot a gay wedding through her corporate expression of herself?
The Obama administration is arguing that corporations are, in fact, not people, and that they can’t shield themselves behind religious beliefs. The court that will decide includes six Catholic justices, some of whom have not been shy about asserting their religion. And all of this is taking place as the country becomes more secular. Even as the fervently religious fight even harder than ever to push creationism in taxpayer funded schools, and on science TV shows. And where the question of corporate personhood has gone from whether the railroad has to pay its taxes to whether corporations can be religious people. The question is do you trust this court to make those decisions? [Emphasis added]
Although I am not a Catholic, it was not lost on me that the rant was anti-Catholic and, to be quite honest, kind of ridiculous.
First of all if Reid’s implication that that the six Catholic judges cannot be fair is just as bigoted as Pat Buchanan’s 2010 suggestion that there were too many Jews on the court. Sadly Buchannan’s bigotry wasn’t protested, and the mainstream media will not protest Reid’s bigotry.
Imagine if there were three African-Americans on the court and some cable talking head charged that black people as a whole are unable to fairly judge civil rights cases. The screams of racism emanating from the media would be deafening. And in truth, the complaints would not be without merit.
However, because Reid is questioning the motives of Catholics, who are not one of liberals’ “protected groups,” she will get a free pass from the left. In the world of the mainstream media it’s only bigotry when directed toward blacks, women, Muslims, Hispanics, and other “diverse” classes.
