WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after participating in a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing titled, “Religious Liberty and H.R. 2802, the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA)” which examined how the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling affects the First Amendment rights of the American people and how FADA can protect citizens from being treated unfairly by the government on the basis of religion:
Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after participating in a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing titled, “Religious Liberty and H.R. 2802, the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA)” which examined how the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling affects the First Amendment rights of the American people and how FADA can protect citizens from being treated unfairly by the government on the basis of religion:
“The foundation of our Republic rests on the idea that our rights and laws do not shift whichever way the wind of popular opinion blows. The misguided decision by the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges presents serious challenges for people of faith and those who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. The Court’s dismissal of sound legal reasoning regarding religious freedom has threatened the integrity of the First Amendment and our Constitution.
“Americans are rightly worried that their civil liberties could be stripped away from one presidential administration to another. This is unconscionable. Failing to protect our Constitutional rights sets a dangerous precedent that goes against everything we, as a free society, stand for. Congress has an obligation to take bold action and protect religious liberty for hard-working Americans and businesses by preventing discrimination from the federal government. I’m proud to be an original cosponsor of the First Amendment Defense Act and encourage the House and Committee to pass this much needed bill in a timely manner.”
Background:
Congressman Gosar is an original cosponsor of the First Amendment Defense Act. The full text of the legislation can be found HERE.
This important bill ensures that a Presidential Administration with differing religious views cannot revoke a nonprofit entity’s tax-exempt status or prevent individuals and organizations from receiving a federal contract, grant or employment based on their fundamental beliefs. Congressman Gosar believes the Supreme Court got this decision wrong and that the justices in the majority allowed public opinion and their personal views, rather than sound judicial interpretation, to guide their decision.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “The majority’s decision is an act of will, not legal judgment… The Court invalidates the marriage laws of more than half the States and orders the transformation of a social institution that has formed the basis of human society for millennia.”
In an even more scathing statement, the late Justice Antonin Scalia opined, “The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie.”
(Courtesy of the House Oversight Committee)
On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state.
In light of this, organizations that and individuals who maintain a traditional view of marriage are concerned the government will use the Supreme Court decision as a legal basis to discriminate against them for holding such a view of marriage and potentially jeopardize their tax-exempt status or other relationships with the government.
FADA was introduced by Rep. Raúl Labrador (H.R. 2802) and Senator Mike Lee (S. 1598) and has 171 cosponsors.
