Conservative groups are calling out President Joe Biden’s judicial nominee Loren AliKhan as a grave threat to religious liberty. In a Wednesday letter sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, conservative groups like First Liberty Institute, cite AliKhan’s “remarkably long record of advocacy” as a lawyer against religious freedom.
The group accuses AliKhan of representing D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in a case defending COVID-19 lockdown orders that prohibited churches from meeting, while allowing large protests to continue in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Even though churches enforced social distancing and mask-wearing, AliKhan’s argument was still rejected. In the Wednesday letter, First Liberty Institute’s executive general counsel Hiram Sasser argues “She poses a grave threat to the religious liberty rights of all Americans. The Senate should reject her nomination.
According to the Wednesday letter, AliKhan also argued against the ministerial exemption “in the Supreme Court’s 2012 religious freedom case, Hosanna-Tabor v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,” which was soundly rejected by the Supreme Court in 2012. Additionally, the D.C. Court of Appeals also rejected her arguments in a 2020 case, when she attempted to deny a tax exemption to a Sikh temple.
The Wednesday letter also notes AliKhan also supported “a nationwide injunction asking HHS to block regulations allowing religious and moral exemptions to the contraceptive mandate” in a 2018 amicus brief. The wedge she places between church and state could potentially erode religious rights if AliKhan is confirmed as a District Judge.
Senator Josh Hawley showcased just how destructive AliKhan’s power could be in his questioning of her during the June confirmation hearing. He called her out for her selective argument of risk during the DC lockdown case.
Senator @HawleyMO: "Do you think it's wrong to discriminate on the basis of religious faith?"
Biden’s district judge nominee for D.C Loren AliKhan: "Absolutely."
Senator Hawley: "Then why did you argue that religious services and religious people pose a greater risk of… pic.twitter.com/lqMPt3Q8x4
— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) June 7, 2023
The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to consider AliKhan on Thursday, and it is absolutely vital that her nomination be rejected to protect citizens’ religious liberties. AliKhan has demonstrated a clear disregard for religious freedoms in the past, and there is no reason to think she won’t continue to do so in the future. The Senate should take a stand against discriminatory and dangerous nominees like AliKhan.