Protect The 1st Foundation
  • About
    • Leadership
  • Issues
  • Scorecards
  • News
  • Take Action
    • Educational Choice for Children Act
    • PRESS Act
    • Save Oak Flat Act
  • DONATE
  • About
    • Leadership
  • Issues
  • Scorecards
  • News
  • Take Action
    • Educational Choice for Children Act
    • PRESS Act
    • Save Oak Flat Act
  • DONATE
Picture

Why Is the Solicitor General Chipping Away at RFRA?

5/19/2025

 
Picture
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), passed in 1993 with overwhelming bipartisan support, was crafted to provide a strong shield for religious liberty. It requires that any government action that substantially burdens religious exercise must be the least restrictive means of advancing a compelling government interest. This principle was not meant to expire or be casually overridden.
 
In a recent Supreme Court filing, the Biden Administration asserted that RFRA can be silently displaced by later statutes, even if Congress says nothing about overriding religious liberty. In a brief footnote, the government argued that if a later statute mandates action – even if it burdens religious exercise – it must override RFRA by default.
 
Perhaps that was to be expected from the Biden Administration, which did not make the freedom of religious exercise a priority. More troubling is that the current administration’s Solicitor General, Dean John Sauer, echoed this view in a letter to the Supreme Court in Apache Stronghold v. United States. Sauer reaffirmed the notion that the land-exchange statute at the heart of the case supersedes RFRA, simply because it came later and is “more specific.”
 
This theory invites the piecemeal erosion of civil liberties. If accepted, it would allow Congress – or perhaps even regulatory agencies – to nullify fundamental rights like religious freedom without ever saying so explicitly. All it takes is a newer law or rule that conflicts with RFRA, and the protections vanish.
 
That logic assumes Congress fully weighs the consequences for religious liberty every time it enacts a new law. It presumes that federal agencies act with constitutional clarity. In truth, lawmakers are not always so meticulous, and regulators have been known to ride roughshod over constitutional protections.
 
This framework has already emboldened efforts to undercut conscience protections in healthcare. Under this view, statutes that promote access to abortion or gender-transition procedures can override RFRA by mere implication – forcing doctors and hospitals to act against their beliefs, without any serious effort to reconcile those conflicts.
 
It is disappointing, to say the least, that a Trump Administration lawyer would continue this Biden-era legacy. Conservatives, especially those with commitments to religious liberty, should reject any legal doctrine that grants Congress or regulators an easy path to nullify core civil rights.
 
RFRA was designed to stand as a bulwark, not a speed bump. Allowing it to be bypassed by silence or implication is not just bad legal reasoning – it undermines a law that reinforces the First Amendment’s guarantee of the free exercise of religion. The Supreme Court declared in 2020 that “RFRA operates as a kind of super-statute, displacing the normal operations of other federal laws.”
 
The Supreme Court should now again affirm that RFRA remains fully in force.

    STAY UP TO DATE

Subscribe to Newsletter
DONATE & HELP US FIGHT FOR YOUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS

Comments are closed.

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021

    Categories

    All
    2022 Year In Review
    2023 Year In Review
    2024 Year In Review
    Amicus Briefs
    Analysis
    Book Banning
    Campus Speech
    Censorship
    Congress
    Court Hearings
    Donor Privacy
    Due Process
    First Amendment
    First Amendment Online
    Freedom Of Press
    Freedom Of Religion
    Freedom Of Speech
    Government Transparency
    In The Media
    Journalism
    Law Enforcement
    Legal
    Legislation
    Legislative Agenda
    Letters To Congress
    Motions
    News
    Online Speech
    Opinion
    Parental Rights
    PRESS Act
    PT1 Amicus Briefs
    Save Oak Flat
    School Choice
    SCOTUS
    Section 230
    Speaking Of The First Amendment
    Supreme Court

    RSS Feed

we  the  people.

LET  YOUR  VOICE  BE  HEARD:


ABOUT

Who We Are

​Leadership

ISSUES

1st Amendment

TAKE ACTION

Donate

​Contact Us
® Copyright 2024 Protect The 1st Foundation