In a case of really bad timing, Andrew Sullivan today took issue with Maggie Gallagher's argument that laws giving society's blessing to homosexual unions will induce the courts to declare "open season on the Catholic Church and other religious groups." "Puh-lease," Sullivan responds. "There is something called the First Amendment in this country; and it protects freedom of speech and freedom of religious expression. If Fred Phelps' constitutional rights are protected, then the much milder public doctrines of the Catholic hierarchy will be as well."

Really?

Well, shortly after Sullivan's post, the California Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that Catholic Charities must provide birth control to their employees through their health plans. Catholicism, of course, holds that artificial contraceptives are contrary to God's plan for us.

In forcing a Catholic group to fund birth control, the Court not only violates several clauses of the First Amendment, but it breaks California law as well. California, like nineteen other states, forces private employers to provide health coverage for birth control. But the Golden State exempts "religious employers." If Catholic charities isn't a "religious" group, then what is?

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors," Thomas Jefferson famously wrote, "is sinful and tyrannical." California's Supreme Court Justices would be wise to revisit Jefferson's wisdom. While they are at it, they might want to read the U.S. Constitution and the laws of their own state too.