Guests: Stephen Moore and Julie Roginsky

"Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has denied an appeal to temporarily delay the Obamacare contraception mandate, which requires workers' health benefit plans to cover the 'morning after' pill and other emergency contraception. A company named Hobby Lobby had sued the government, claiming that the HHS mandate violated the religious rights of the company's owners, who are evangelical Christians. Although Sotomayor didn't rule on the merits of the case, her refusal to grant a temporary stay is onerous. Starting next week, the company will either have to pay a daily fine of $1.3 million, stop offering their employees health care, or abide by the rule and violate their religious conscience. It turns out that the President's 'religious exemption' to the contraception mandate is so narrow as to be meaningless. Unless you employ and serve only those of your same religious faith, you don't receive an exemption. The Little Sisters of the Poor, a saintly order of nuns who give beautiful care and housing to indigent seniors, has already warned that, due to this Obamacare mandate, it may have to shutter homes all across the United States. This is unconscionable and unconstitutional; the President must step in to stop this madness."

Guests: Chip Saltsman and Anthony Holm

There is plenty of finger-pointing in Washington, where Democrats and Republicans have been unable to reach a compromise on taxes and spending. Laura sorted out the issue with Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky and conservative columnist Stephen Moore. "It's been 13-hundred days since Harry Reid has passed a budget out of the Senate," Moore said, "so we don't even know what Senators stand for. But earlier this year the House actually passed a bill to extend all the Bush-era tax cuts for another year. Republicans have put revenues on the table, they've agreed to close loopholes, but the President has still not put a single major spending item on the table." In contrast and to no one's surprise, Roginsky blamed the GOP-led House. "The Senate did pass legislation to insure that taxes would not go up on anyone making under $250,000 and sent it over to the House, but the House didn't take it up, so you can't say the Senate hasn't led. The problem is that President Obama doesn't know who to negotiate with, John Boehner is being held hostage by members of his own Republican caucus."

Guests: Simon Rosenberg and Brad Blakeman

Some conservative Republican House members are unhappy with Speaker John Boehner for agreeing in principle to tax hikes on the wealthy. Laura asked two Republican strategists whether Boehner should keep his job. "It's disingenuous to spend eight months telling Americans that tax increases hurt the economy," said Anthony Holm, "and then turn around and offer to surrender on taxes under the guise of helping the economy. We kept the House and we have the constitutional authority to create the budget." But Chip Saltsman insisted that Boehner isn't going anywhere. "I consider this to be a 'three-beer rumor,'" he quipped, "meaning that after the third beer people say, 'We should replace Boehner.' I talk to members and there is no true conversation to replace John Boehner as Speaker right now." Laura lamented that Speaker Boehner has little choice other than to go along with some tax hikes, saying, "In a perfect world there would be no tax increases, but it's going to happen one way or another."

Guests: Jay Sekulow and Chip Merlin

As Laura reported in the Talking Points Memo, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has sided with the administration in a case involving the Obamacare contraceptive mandate. Two attorneys entered the No Spin Zone to analyze the ruling. "The tragedy in this," said Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice, "is that Justice Sotomayor could have just held things in abeyance, which would have protected the religious freedom rights of this company's owners. She missed an opportunity to put this on hold pending a full disposition of the case." Chip Merlin countered that every profit-making company must provide the benefits mandated by Obamacare. "Religious liberties are very important, but this particular case involves a for-profit corporation. That corporation wants the fruits and benefits of making money, but they don't want to have the obligations. Corporations do not have freedom of religion; corporations are not going to go to Heaven or Hell, they have no soul. The owners absolutely have such rights, but not the corporations."

Guests: Larry Walters and Mike Gallagher

There is lingering outrage after a suburban New York newspaper published the names and address of local citizens who hold handgun permits. In response, a blogger published the names and addresses of the paper's editors and writers. Conservative radio host Mike Gallagher contended that the blogger's retaliation went too far. "I think it's a real ugly business to start publishing people's personal addresses," he said. "The blogger is right in pointing out the hypocrisy of what these anti-gun zealots are trying to do, but I don't think it's a good idea for our side, the pro-Second Amendment side, to crawl in the gutter with those guys. Surely there's a way to argue this issue on the merits." Attorney Lawrence Walters concurred that both sides were out of bounds. "The First Amendment clearly protects the rights to publish information on both sides, but there's the ethical issue and the question of whether it was responsible. Journalistic ethics should have come into play and cooler heads should have prevailed."

Guests: Maria Sacchetti

Over the past four years the federal government has released more than 8,000 criminal illegal aliens because their countries refused to take them back. Laura pursued the story with investigative reporter Maria Sacchetti. "Immigration officials say they need the cooperation of another country to deport someone," Sacchetti reported, "while the Supreme Court has said that you can only hold immigrants for so long before they have to be let go. What we found is that immigration officials don't inform the public about the people they release back to the streets and don't inform the vast majority of crime victims, which is a very serious issue. We had a case of a woman who believed her attacker was in China, but in fact he was able to move into her building and murder her." Laura demanded that immigration authorities notify the public when criminals are being set free, asking, "Who are these people, where are they, could they be living near us?"

Guests: Kim and Robert Summers

The Russian legislature, retaliating against a U.S. law involving human rights, has passed a bill that would ban American couples from adopting Russian children. Laura, who has adopted two Russian boys herself, commiserated with Robert and Kim Summers, who have adopted a Russian boy and are now planning to bring him to America. "We have already booked our flights," Kim Summers said, "and we were supposed to go to Moscow to pick up our son. We have done everything the Russian government has requested of us." Robert Summers added that the new legislation puts their plan in limbo. "We haven't heard anything, and if they sign this bill I don't know if we'll ever get to see this child again." Laura begged the Russian government to do the right thing: "A lot of these kids have been abandoned and they're desperate for homes, whether in the United States or elsewhere. Some of these children are totally abandoned because they're disabled, and families all over the United States have welcomed them into their homes. These aren't political pawns, they're children!"