Eugene Volokh of The Volokh Conspiracy is scratching his head over a new law proposed by very conservative Rep. Steve King (R-IA). Keeping in mind that the Hobby Lobby exception was carved out for religious objections to abortion …
Here’s H.R. 177, introduced yesterday by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa):
Under Article 3, Section 2, which allows Congress to provide exceptions and regulations for Supreme Court consideration of cases and controversies, the following cases are barred from citation for the purpose of precedence in all future cases after enactment: Nat’l Fed’n of Indep. Bus. v. Sebelius, 132 S. Ct. 2566, 2573, 183 L. Ed. 2d 450 (2012) and King v. Burwell, 135 S. Ct. 2480, 2485, 192 L. Ed. 2d 483 (2015) and Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., 134 S. Ct. 2751, 2782, 189 L. Ed. 2d 675 (2014).
Bold is mine. Then he points out this is probably unconstitutional, and then just plain weird. He wonders if it’s theater.
I wonder if this is legislation intended to be overturned to create a precedent of some sort.
