The Week Ahead

++Tomorrow we have the last two Supreme Court decisions of this season before the judges leave on summer vacation. The Hobby/Conestoga case vs. Sebelius, and the Harris v. Quinn case. Court observers believe the earlier cases were released first for psychological reasons to demonstrate the court was not simply a 5-4 court. This session we had several 9-0 cases. But these two cases should be tough calls.

++A Reuters/Ipsos poll on the essence of the Hobby case shows that 53% of Americans disagree with the proposition that employers can choose the contraceptives employees use for religious reasons. 35% agreed and 12% disagreed.

++You would think that the Supreme Court would rule against Hobby because of past precedents against the Amish for refusing to pay social security and the Indian peyote case but this is the Roberts Court, which overthrew 100 years of precedent on Citizens United. Mike Papantonio on the "Ring of Fire" argued on a whole different ground the issue of the nature of a corporation. How can you identify a corporation's so-called "religious" beliefs without identifying the company with its owners and thereby stripping them of their corporate indemnification?

++There are other issues, which will not be mentioned in this court, because it seems so removed from everyday reality. Isn't the Hobby argument against women? They already offer their employees health insurance that cover contraceptives except they object to two new ones that they argue are abortifacts, even though science says they are not. This was the point that seemed to confuse Judge Kennedy when he got flustered about whether the contraceptive mandate involved abortion. 

++Observers should get nervous because there are 6 Catholics on the bench,and only 3 Jewish-Americans, and no WASPs. The Roberts Court is overwhelmingly pro-company. So I would reject Hobby but my gut tells me that the Court will rule 5-4 and try to limit the decision to closely held family owned businesses. This ,of course, would open the issue about bakeries who refuse to bake gay wedding cakes. But the Roberts Court has unleashed plagues on the land before.

++The Harris v.Quinn could be monumental for labor rights in the United States. If the Court goes broad,it would jeopardize public sector unions, which the Republican judges would prefer. If the Court goes narrow,it would only affect home healthcare workers. 

++Although the Recess decision looked like a rebuke of President Obama,remember it had to do with the National Labor Relations Board, which the Senate GOP sought to gut. The National Labor Relations Board acts as the supreme court on labor law in the United States. So be prepared for the Court to go against the unions again.

++Meanwhile across the street from the Supreme Court,the House Teaparty Caucus wants to pick a fight over the Export-Import Bank that has existed since 1934. They argue this is a case of crony capitalism that businesses doing export business can get loan guarantees. On the other hand,the House Caucus has never seen a corporate tax break they didn't like. Personally, I have never given the ExIm Bank any thought but I can see its utility, while I can't with some of the amazing tax breaks.

++Down South, Republican candidate Tom Cotton running against Senator Pryor came up with a statement at a rally that sums up the zeitgeist of the new GOP. He said he would privatize Social Security,Medicare, and go further that this Senate would be the last determined by voting . Instead a group of corporations would be asked to fund the Senate and would determine its direction in the future. He went on to say he would privatize the entire federal government.

++Michelle Bachman in her hissy fit with Neil Cavuto on Fox this past week put forth the idea that the House should de-fund the executive branch in protest for President Obama's "lawlessness".