The Chicago Tribune reports, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on whether requiring employers (as part of the reforms of the Affordable Care Act) to cover birth control as part of their health insurance plans would violate the First Amendment. The ACLU has filed amicus briefs in several cases, defending the anti-discrimination rule. While religious freedom gives us all the right to make personal decisions about how to practice religion, it doesn't give institutions or individuals the right to impose their beliefs on others or to discriminate.

But in an unexpected twist during a hearing on the merits of a preliminary injunction, the lawyer for the U.S. government argued that accommodating the business owners' religious beliefs could violate the First Amendment as well.

. . . Alisa Klein, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, said allowing a company to impose a religious framework on a diverse workforce would amount to fostering or enabling religious practice.

“At bottom, the concern is about establishing religion,” Klein said.

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The Southtown Star published a strong editorial in support of the freedom to marry in Illinois. 

It really comes down to the basic issues of fairness and equality — gay people should not be denied a fundamental right enjoyed by heterosexual couples. Many social injustices have been eliminated in America. The one regarding same-sex marriage should be next.

Read the whole article.

In the Tribune column, Change of Subject, Eric Zorn writes about House Bill 1, which passed both houses last week, and would allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana in Illinois. On whether Governor Quinn will sign the bill, Zorn writes:

Quinn sometimes dithers publicly when bills land on his desk. In early 2011, for example, he played Hamlet on the abolition of the death penalty for nearly two months, continually (allegedly) seeking more input from more sources on an issue that had already been exhaustively reported and researched, until he finally signed the bill.

But there was no dither in his response Monday, even though he said it will be "a month or so" before he acts on the bill.

Read the rest.