June 27, 2017
Good morning from Washington, where the Supreme Court hands down a win for religious liberty against government power, and agrees to hear the appeal of a Christian baker who risks his livelihood because he won't make cakes for same-sex marriages. Elizabeth Slattery and Ken McIntyre have the facts, respectively. Victims of Obamacare meet with the vice president, and Fred Lucas shares one moving story. Plus: Ed Haislmaier on the thorny question of "continuous" health coverage, John Malcolm on the high court and the travel ban, and Jarrett Stepman on what boosting the minimum wage really does.
By deciding to hear the appeal of a Colorado baker, the Supreme Court could make its first ruling next year on whether government may coerce some Christians, Jews, and Muslims to use their creative gifts to celebrate same-sex marriage.
The findings of a new report suggest that low-income workers are being hurt, not helped, by Seattle's minimum wage hike.
Marjorie Weer, whose story was first featured by The Daily Signal in February, traveled to Washington to be part of Vice President Pence's listening session with "victims of Obamacare."
The court tipped its hand, indicating that it is likely to side with the administration and uphold the traditional deference that it has accorded the other branches of government when it comes to immigration and national security issues.
The combination of two Obamacare mandates—requiring insurers to accept all applicants and prohibiting them from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions—created a perverse incentive for people to delay obtaining health insurance coverage until they need medical care, and to drop coverage once they have been treated.
In its ruling, the court recognized that churches do not have to give up their religious identity in order to compete with secular organizations for state funds.
"We are generally encouraged by GuideStar's decision to remove the labeling of nonprofit webpages like ours based on characterizations made by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a bitterly partisan political organization that has been linked in federal court to a domestic terrorist shooting," says Family Research Council's Jerry Boykin, a retired Army general.
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