The District of Columbia Council and Mayor Muriel Bowser have launched a two-pronged war against the First Amendment rights of Catholic schools and other religious and pro-life institutions in Washington, D.C.
The question is: Will House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell employ the powers the Constitution grants Congress over the District of Columbia and the spending power of the Treasury to protect religious freedom in the nation’s capital?
This is a decisive issue for this Congress.
In January, Bowser signed two bills into law in the District of Columbia – the Reproductive Health Nondiscrimination Act and the Human Rights Act.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops explained the practical impact of these modern laws in the District of Columbia (and why bishops oppose them) in a March 20 letter to members of Congress.
“The Reproductive Health Nondiscrimination Act prevents religious institutions, faith-based organizations, and pro-life organizations from making employment decisions consistent with their sincerely held beliefs,” says the letter, signed by Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston and Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, among others.
“For example,” the bishops said, “they could be forced to hire, retain, and promote individuals whose public statements and behavior contradict their mission.”
“The Human Rights Amendment Act repeals the Religious Freedom and Academic Freedom Act (also known as the Armstrong Amendment after Senator William Armstrong), enacted by Congress in 1989 and part of the code of the District of Columbia,” the bishops said in a statement to Congress.
“Importantly, the Armstrong Amendment ensures that the District of Columbia Human Rights Act cannot be interpreted to require religiously affiliated schools to officially endorse, fund, or provide other assistance for the promotion of human sexuality or sexual conduct that is inconsistent with the school’s faith and moral beliefs,” they said.
“In effect,” the bishops said, “both the RHNDA and the HRAA will force religious institutions, faith-based organizations, and pro-life organizations to engage in conduct that appears designed to displace those institutions and organizations from the District of Columbia.”
The HRAA, if allowed to stand, could be used to force a Catholic high school to provide on-campus facilities for a “student” group that promotes homosexual behavior. The RHNDA could be used to force a Catholic school to keep on staff a teacher who tried to convince students that killing unborn babies is a good thing.
The bishops asked Congress “to repeal the RHNDA and HRAA.”
The Constitution gives Congress the authority to “exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases and Matters” over D.C. It also says, “No Money shall be drawn out of the Treasury, except in Consequence of Appropriations by Law.”
Under the DC Home Rule Act of 1973, Congress can reject any legislation passed by the DC Council by passing a resolution rejecting the legislation within 30 legislative days of the mayor formally submitting it to Congress. The President must sign the resolution.
Mayor Bowser submitted the HRAA and RHNDAA bills to Congress on March 6. Congress had until Monday to reject them.
On March 18, before the bishops sent the letter to Congress, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, — joined by Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., — introduced two Senate resolutions disapproving the HRAA and RHNDAA.
On April 13, Rep. Diane Black, R.-Tenn., — joined by Rep. Mark Meadows, R.-N.C., and Rep. Bill Flores, R.-Texas, — introduced a House resolution disapproving the RHNDAA.
On April 14, Representative Vicky Hartzler, Republican of Missouri, joined by Meadows and Flores, introduced a resolution expressing disapproval of the HRAA.
In the Senate, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee had jurisdiction over the resolutions. Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., did not support them.
In the House, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee had jurisdiction. Chairman Jason Chaffetz did nothing with the resolution to reject the HRAA. But he did pass the committee’s rejection of the RHNDAA.
Last Thursday, facing a veto threat from the White House, the House took up the resolution at the last possible moment. It passed by a vote of 228 to 192. Three Democrats voted to disapprove — and therefore to free. Thirteen Republicans voted against it.
The Senate did not vote on the resolutions.
Given the unlikely likelihood that President Obama will sign stand-alone legislation protecting the freedom of conscience of Catholic schools and other religious and pro-life institutions in D.C., Reps. Black and Flores led a group of 67 House members in a letter to Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Fla., who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee overseeing D.C. funding.
They asked that his committee “ensure that any fiscal year 2016 appropriations include a provision that would prohibit funds from being appropriated for the implementation or enforcement of any rules or regulations related to the RHNDAA or HRAA.”
“We believe that Congress must use its constitutional ‘budget authority’ to prevent the infringement of core constitutional protections for employers and institutions operating in the District,” they said.
The HRAA and RHNDAA are currently the law in force in the District of Columbia.
On Tuesday, I asked spokespeople for House Government Affairs Chairman Johnson, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, R-Ky., and House Speaker Boehner, R-Ohio, whether these congressional leaders support including a provision to defund the RHNDAA and HRAA in the bill that will ultimately allocate federal funds to the District of Columbia in fiscal year 2016.
Melinda Schnell, Johnson’s communications director, said Johnson did just that.
“Senator Johnson opposes the actions taken by the District of Columbia and strongly supports defunding two D.C. laws through appropriations,” Schnell said. “Senator Johnson worked closely with the sponsors of the disapproval resolution and determined that the only way to effectively reverse D.C.’s unconstitutional actions is through appropriations.”
McConnell’s deputy chief of staff, Don Stewart, responded that McConnell “believes that committees should be developing legislation, not writing it here. Committees will develop legislation.”
“We have not yet announced any decisions regarding the commission’s actions,” he said.
“The chairman will be submitting the bill to the subcommittee chairman, but as you know, he strongly supports religious liberty,” Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said.
