WASHINGTON — Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) questioned President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division on Tuesday, pressing her on the department’s handling of religious liberty cases under the Biden administration.
During a Senate hearing, Hawley alleged that religious institutions faced “unprecedented attacks” in recent years, citing more than 100 pregnancy care centers and over 300 churches that were vandalized, including incidents of firebombing, following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. He accused the Biden Justice Department of failing to protect religious organizations, stating they “let them twist in the wind” while violence went “virtually unchecked.”
“America didn’t invent religious liberty. Religious liberty invented America. And your family’s story is certainly a testament to that,” he said to nominee Harmeet Dhillon. “I also am mindful of the fact that in the last four years, we have seen unprecedented attacks on religious liberty in this country.” “
Absolutely abhorrent attacks on people of faith. Just to take one example, after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, 100 pregnancy care centers, more than that, were vandalized, criminally assaulted, firebombed. Over 300 churches, many of them Catholic churches, were targeted in the same manner. The Biden Justice Department did nothing to defend these institutions. They let them twist in the wind. They allowed the violence to go on virtually unchecked. Indeed, members of this body encouraged this violence with outrageous, irresponsible rhetoric on the floor of the United States Senate and on the floor of the United States House House of Representatives.
The nominee, Harmeet Dhillon, pledged to prioritize religious freedom cases if confirmed. “I would absolutely be committed as a top priority in the Civil Rights Division, if confirmed, to defending people of faith equally,” she said, citing her 32-year legal career in religious liberty litigation.
Thank you for that question, Senator Hawley. I believe my career and the disclosures made to the Senate would back up the fact that my entire career in 32 years has included religious liberty litigation on the side of people of faith of minority and majority faiths. I’m very proud of that. I’ve won cases at the United States Supreme Court defending people of faith from government tyranny and obstruction. I would absolutely be committed as a top priority in the Civil Rights Division, if confirmed, to defending people of faith equally. Very.
- Harmeet Dhillon
Hawley’s remarks and Dhillon’s testimony reflect the ongoing political divide over religious freedom and the federal government’s role in protecting faith-based institutions.
Hawley delved further into the attacks on religious freedoms in the Biden administration, both physical and legal.
“Absolutely abhorrent attacks on people of faith. Just to take one example, after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, 100 pregnancy care centers, more than that, were vandalized, criminally assaulted, firebombed. Over 300 churches, many of them Catholic churches, were targeted in the same manner. The Biden Justice Department did nothing to defend these institutions<‘ he said. “They let them twist in the wind. They allowed the violence to go on virtually unchecked. Indeed, members of this body encouraged this violence with outrageous, irresponsible rhetoric on the floor of the United States Senate and on the floor of the United States House House of Representatives.”
