DOJ expands religious liberty guidance for federal agencies

The Trump administration recently updated federal guidance on religious liberty for the first time in nearly a decade. This new guidance directs federal agencies to give greater consideration to religious liberty when writing regulations, enforcing federal law and accommodating employees’ religious beliefs, Fox News reports.

Executive agencies must ensure their policies comply with the First Amendment, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and recent Supreme Court decisions that have expanded protections for religious exercise. The U.S. Department of Justice said the guidance reflects nearly a decade of new Supreme Court precedent and is intended to ensure federal agencies protect religious Americans in areas including employment, federal contracting, grants, rulemaking and enforcement actions.

Religious guidance changes

Among the changes, the department said agencies should consider religious liberty concerns earlier when developing regulations, accommodate religious expression in the federal workplace when required by law and ensure religious organizations can compete for federal grants and contracts on equal footing with secular organizations. The guidance also reaffirms constitutional protections for churches to govern their own internal affairs and highlights recent Supreme Court rulings recognizing parents’ rights to direct the religious upbringing of their children.

“The updated guidance will ensure that the federal government will respect the religious liberty rights of all Americans when implementing the president’s policies,” said Kelly Shackelford, president, CEO and chief counsel of First Liberty Institute..

First Liberty said the guidance references two Supreme Court victories involving the organization. One was Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, in which the Supreme Court ruled that a public high school football coach’s postgame prayer was protected by the First Amendment. The other was Groff v. DeJoy, which held that employers generally must provide religious accommodation unless doing so would impose substantial hardship.

According to the Justice Department, the Office of Legal Policy will continue working with federal agencies to review proposed regulations and other government actions for compliance with federal religious-liberty protections. The updated memorandum replaces guidance issued during Trump’s first administration in 2017 and incorporates Supreme Court decisions issued since then that the department says have clarified and strengthened constitutional and statutory protections for religious exercise.

–Lee Hartman

#ReligiousLiberty #FirstAmendment #JusticeDepartment #TrumpAdministration