Washington, DC - The Department of Justice announced a joint final rule with eight other Agencies - the Agency for International Development and the Departments of Agriculture, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Veterans Affairs - to implement President Trump’s Executive Order No. 13831, on the Establishment of a White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative (May 3, 2018). This rule ensures that religious and non-religious organizations are treated equally in DOJ-supported programs, and it clarifies that religious organizations do not lose their legal protections and rights just because they participate in federal programs and activities.
“The freedom to exercise religious beliefs is a cornerstone of our Constitution and the federal government must uphold this right for all Americans. The Constitution and Federal statutes require all agencies of government to treat religious groups fairly,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “This joint final rule is another in a long line of steps this Administration has taken to restore and protect religious liberty and ensure equal treatment for people of faith.”
This final rule ensures equal treatment for faith-based organizations, consistent with the Constitution and other federal law. It removes requirements in prior regulations that placed unequal burdens on religious organizations, cast unwarranted suspicion on them, and were in tension with their religious liberty rights. This final rule also clarifies that religious organizations do not lose various legal protections because they participate in federal programs and activities, such as the rights to accommodations and conscience protections under the First Amendment, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and other federal laws.
This final rule preserves most of the existing regulations governing participation of religious organizations in DOJ’s financial assistance programs, including provisions barring providers from discriminating against beneficiaries based on religion and requiring that any religious activities by the organization be separated in time or location from any services directly funded with federal money.
The final rule was drafted in response to Executive Order 13831, issued in May 2018. The nine Agencies worked collaboratively to draft notices of proposed rulemaking that were published or delivered to Congress in January 2020. These Agencies then received over 95,000 public comments from a range of interested parties, including Members of Congress; state and local governments, agencies, and officials; faith-based services providers and umbrella organizations; advocacy organizations; and individuals. The Agencies considered those comments, modified their regulations to address concerns raised in the comments, and drafted responses included in the final rule.
