U.S. government responds to Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby's appeal of contraception ruling

DENVER — Government attorneys filed their response Friday in Hobby Lobby's appeal of a federal judge's ruling on the Oklahoma City-based retail chain's claim that it should be exempt from some health insurance coverage provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In a filing at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, the government said Hobby Lobby and Mardel were secular businesses separate from their owners, the Green family. As a result, government attorneys said the corporations had no claims on religious grounds to oppose a mandate requiring health insurance coverage that includes certain types of contraception opposed by the Green family. A federal judge in Oklahoma City last week declined to grant a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the government from enforcing the coverage provision. Hobby Lobby, which has 13,000 employees, said it could face fines of up to $1.3 million per day beginning Jan. 1 if it doesn't comply with the law.