AG Barr Assures Faith Leaders That The Trump Admin Has Got Their Back If ‘Singled Out’ By State, Local Lockdowns

K. WalkerApril 28, 2020

41 3 minutes read

The Department of Justice is willing to side with religious groups against state and local governments if COVID restrictions have been unfairly implemented.

During the coronavirus lockdowns, some jurisdictions have been completely unfair to some faith groups by restricting gatherings at the peak of their religious calendar. Churches, in particular, have faced a number of these unfair rules, like the crackdown on drive-thru services, or

ClashDaily covered the restrictions placed on churches for Easter Sunday state by state here:

COVID TYRANNY: Several States Are Imposing Severe Restrictions On Church Services For Easter Sunday

We’ve also covered that the DOJ sided with churches against the local government in a lawsuit here:

Justice Department Sides With Churches In First Amendment Lawsuit Against Local Government

Attorney General William Barr is quite committed to ensuring that religious groups aren’t singled out by punitive coronavirus lockdown measures by state and local governments.

Last Thursday, during a White House conference call with faith leaders, AG Barr assured over 500 priests, ministers, and rabbis that the administration was on guard against state and local governments “singling out” religious groups with overzealous lockdown measures.

Barr, who spoke for roughly ten minutes, told the religious leaders that, while “Draconian measures” were initially necessary to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, the administration is now working to ensure that those measures are not extended unnecessarily, and will be particularly aggressive in combating efforts to apply them disproportionally to religious organizations.

“Standing up for liberty is one of our highest priorities, my highest priorities,” Barr said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided to National Review by a participant on the call. When reached for comment, the Department of Justice confirmed the participant’s description of the call.

Earlier in the week, AG Barr spoke with conservative radio show host, Hugh Hewitt, and had said that there was growing frustration with the overly restrictive rules put in place for religious groups by some state and local governments during the lockdowns.

“We’re looking carefully at a number of these rules that are being put into place,” Barr said. “And if we think one goes too far, we initially try to jawbone the governors into rolling them back or adjusting them. And if they’re not and people bring lawsuits, we file statement of interest and side with the plaintiffs.”

During the Thursday call, Barr extended that line of thinking to religious groups, telling the participants that he believes they will soon be able to hold outdoor services — and even return to indoor worship in certain parts of the country that have not been hit as hard as the major cities. He did not, however, provide any specific timelines.

“It may be possible to be a bit more liberal about how many people can gather inside…we hope to see a loosening of the restrictions community by community and based on diminution of infection rate,” he said.

Source: National Review

Look at that! The DOJ is willing to stand up for religious groups when the state and local governments are putting unnecessary restrictions on them.

The left is going to go mental with this and start shrieking about the “separation of church and state” while not realizing that imposing rules on churches and synagogues that do not apply to other organizations is a form of discrimination which violates that same “separation.”

We have a Bill of Rights and it says that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” which separate rules for religious groups would do. State Constitutions are based on the federal one and they have the same restrictions. The Feds are going to hold governments accountable for unfairly infringing on the rights of religious groups and that is a fantastic thing for Freedom.

This clear stance by AG Barr is one more reason that I personally think that he is one of the best people in the Trump administration.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Related: