Written by Don Byrd
Sarah Posner reports that the Justice Department quietly revealed last month it has continued to issue certificates of exemption to faith-based groups excusing them from employment discrimination laws. Since President Obama’s inauguration in January 2009, the Administration has been guarded – even secretive – about its “case-by-case” approach to faith-based discrimination by organizations receiving federal funds. The Baptist Joint Committee and other advocates of religious liberty have repeatedly inquired about the policy and chided officials for failing to overtly reverse course on flawed legal programs of the previous President. Now we have a clearer picture that the current administration has not announced a reversal because it is continuing on the same path.
The DOJ’s written response to questioning from Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), seems to indicate the controversial Bush Administration exemption policy, according to Posner’s report:
Although Attorney General Eric Holder attempted to dodge the question in a 2011 House Judiciary Committee hearing, in response to written questions from Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), DOJ admitted in June 2012 that the Department grants faith-based grantees certificates of exemption from laws prohibiting religious discrimination. The sole legal authority for these exemptions lies in a 2007 Office of Legal Counsel memo written by Bush administration lawyers, concluding that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act “protects this right to prefer co-religionists for employees even if the statute that authorizes the funding program generally forbids consideration of religion in employment decisions by grantees.”
After the 2011 hearing,Scott told San Francisco Chronicle reporter Bob Egelko that Holder was “obviously ’embarrassed to try to explain the policy'” and that Obama could repeal the OLC memo via executive order but had made no effort to.
The responses to Scott’s question finally reveal the straightforward answer [the Coalition Against Religious Discrimination] has long sought.
The Administration’s failure to undo the Bush policy on faith-based discrimination remains a key disappointment.
