Inazu on the Contraceptive Mandate and McConnell on Inazu

MOJ-friend John Inazu (Washington U.) has a piece at USA Today about why the fight over the HHS mandate isn't merely a "Catholic thing" here. When you're finished with that, go over to the First Things site and read Mike McConnell's review of Inazu's book on freedom of assembly. Here's the conclusion to McConnell's review:

The title Liberty’s Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly is therefore sad but all too true: Freedom of assembly has been forgotten. And unfortunately Inazu is right about another thing as well: It matters. America has long been distinguished by a vibrant and independent civil society, one possible only when voluntary associations can meet freely in public spaces and public institutions and when they can limit their membership and leadership to persons who share their beliefs. This means that groups will exist that we like and groups will exist that we do not like.

Under the Court’s current weak doctrine, governments can effectively pick and choose which groups are permitted to use public property, using pretexts like the “all-comers” rule or the policy against “worship.” The framers of the First Amendment thought they had guaranteed all associations the right to meet, with the sole limitation that they behave peaceably. That freedom has slipped away.