Religious freedom may top U.S. civil rights priorities
WASHINGTON — When U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to the National Prayer Breakfast this month, he underscored his vow to defend the religious rights of the conservative Christians who helped propel him to power.
Now, they expect the Justice Department under new Attorney General Jeff Sessions will reposition itself as a champion of what they see as that religious freedom.
It would be a welcome change for conservative Christians who say their concerns were marginalized under the Barack Obama administration in favour of First Amendment and LGBT issues.
Exactly how Sessions will approach the issue remains to be seen, but he has given them plenty of reasons to be hopeful.
As a Republican senator from Alabama, Sessions, a devout Methodist, argued that the separation of church and state is unconstitutional and that the First Amendment’s bar on an establishment of religion has been interpreted too strictly, while its right to free exercise of religion has been diminished.
Asked at his confirmation hearing whether a “secular person” has “just as good a claim to understanding the truth as a person who is religious,” Sessions replied, “Well. I’m not sure.”
That backdrop suggests Sessions’ Justice Department could more eagerly insert itself into religion-oriented cases such as that of the bakery fined for refusing to make a gay wedding cake or the high-school football coach fired for praying on the field after games, whom Trump repeatedly mentioned during his campaign.
“Religious conservatives have sort of been the forgotten people,” said Hiram Sasser, deputy chief counsel for First Liberty Institute, a law firm that specializes in issues of religious liberty. “Now, we have a refreshing sort of reboot to be able to have at least a voice, and to be able to once again have a seat at the table.”
Sessions could bring major changes throughout the Justice Department. But the department’s civil-rights division traditionally is subject to the most radical shift in agendas with each change in presidential administration. Where the Obama Justice Department wanted to leave its mark on reforming troubled police departments, Sessions will likely use its resources differently.
On his first full day on the job, Sessions signalled a shift away from Obama priorities when the Justice Department changed its legal position in a case involving transgender rights. The department is no longer asking a judge to limit an injunction restricting the U.S. government from telling schools that students should be able to use bathrooms and locker rooms corresponding to their gender identity.
Transgender rights were a focus of the department under former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who sued the state of North Carolina over a bathroom bill that the government said discriminated against transgender people. Such a move would be improbable in an administration such as Trump’s, which has already signalled its deference to states’ rights.
It’s unclear exactly what priorities Sessions will pursue when it comes to the civil rights division. He has faced intense criticism of his record on civil rights with regard to race.
A renewed focus on religious causes would be “especially troubling in light of the fact that increasing numbers of Americans are not religious,” said Marci Hamilton, a Yeshiva University legal expert on religious liberty. “This landscape is radically different.”
But it would help satisfy Trump’s campaign promise to his Christian political base. While the appointment of Sessions is a promise fulfilled, some remain concerned that Trump won’t deliver. When he was Indiana’s governor, Vice-President Mike Pence signed a religious freedom law, but softened it after criticism that it was discriminatory, a move that disappointed some conservatives.
Groups ranging from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to Sasser’s First Liberty Institute have launched campaigns urging Trump to enact broad protections for religious objectors to laws such as gay marriage and abortion.