Trump's religious liberty executive order: A whole lot of nothing
Michael Sean Winters | May. 5, 2017
President Donald Trump signed a much-anticipated executive order on religious liberty issues yesterday. But the anticipation turned out to be hyped: The executive order is a whole lot of nothing.
For example, the contraception mandate that has been at the center of litigation and political fighting since the Department of Health and Human Services issued it in 2012 received this paragraph in the order:
Conscience Protections with Respect to Preventive-Care Mandate. The Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall consider issuing amended regulations, consistent with applicable law, to address conscience-based objections to the preventive-care mandate promulgated under section 300gg-13(a)(4) of title 42, United States Code.
Of course, the Supreme Court already ordered the government to devise "amended regulations" after hearing arguments in the case Zubik v. Burwell.
Similarly, the Johnson Amendment, which forbids non-profits, including churches, from explicitly endorsing candidates, cannot be rescinded by an executive order, so President Trump merely ordered the IRS to go easy on the subject. The IRS already went easy on the subject. One hopes, at least, that Trump will henceforth refrain from complaining that undocumented immigrants broke the law, seeing as he has just instructed his Treasury Department not to take action against pastors who still, technically, break a law which is still on the books.
https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/trumps-religious-liberty-executive-order-whole-lot-nothing
= new reply since forum marked as read
