There's Much More to the Contraception-Mandate Litigation Than the Smith Case

The lawsuits brought against HHS over the contraception mandate raise interesting issues under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and under the Free Exercise Clause insofar as various nonreligious exceptions made in the statute and by HHS undercut the mandate's "general applicability" under Employment Division v. Smith.  I think that the suits by religious organizations have a good prospect on the merits if the Administration doesn't cure significant problems with the narrow coverage of the existing and proposed religious exemptions (although I don't think the claims made for general commercial businesses have much of a chance).  What I do know is that there's a lot more to the issue than is indicated in this piece, just published in Commonweal, which cites the Smith case in favor of the mandate and then stops.  As sometimes happens with student exams, I found myself wondering whether the last few pages of the piece had gotten lost somewhere.