Ginsburg Was Wrong About Hobby Lobby ‘Havoc’
Even admirers should be relieved that the calamities the justice predicted in her famous dissent in the 2014 religious freedom case have not come to pass.
Always popular, sometimes wrong.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergLong after her career as a legal activist, well into her time as a judge, Ruth Bader Ginsburg became a popular-culture heroine. Her dissent in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, a 2014 case about mandatory contraceptive coverage, played a part in this newfound celebrity. Fans called it “brutally awesome.” People magazine noted that it had even been set to music. Now that Ginsburg has died, the dissent is being remembered as a highlight of her tenure.
Even people who own RBG coffee mugs and tote bags, though, should be glad that Ginsburg’s dissent has not held up over the years. She predicted the decision would lead to calamities that have thankfully not come to pass.