Will the Supreme Court Buy Faulty Logic?

What is a “substantial” burden on religious freedom? For four Supreme Court justices, the answer may be: whatever a religious objector says it is.

That was the implication of a brief exchange during oral arguments on Wednesday morning, in one of the most significant cases of the court’s current term, involving a religious challenge to women’s access to free birth control.

If the justices split 4-4, they would leave the issue unresolved until a new justice is confirmed, which could be a year or more from now.