Government · Nationwide · August 18, 2026
Judge Upholds Trump's Religious Liberty Commission Against Interfaith Lawsuit
U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan dismissed a lawsuit challenging President Trump's Religious Liberty Commission, according to lawnews.co.uk. The suit, filed by an interfaith coalition including Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh organizations along with the Interfaith Alliance, argued the commission violated federal law requiring viewpoint balance on advisory panels. The commission's roster includes former Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Rev. Franklin Graham, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, and one Orthodox Jewish rabbi. Cronan, a Trump appointee, acknowledged the commission leans heavily toward one religious perspective but ruled federal law does not specify how viewpoint balance must be achieved. He also rejected the plaintiffs' claim that the commission improperly favors religious practice over civil rights protections, noting Trump's executive order explicitly denies any conflict between the two. Interfaith Alliance president Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush called the ruling wrong, saying it ignored the commission's narrow ideological makeup. The coalition, represented by Democracy Forward, says the litigation already forced release of commission transcripts and meeting materials the administration had withheld. An appeal or further legal action was not ruled out.
Source: lawnews.co.uk
Why Bible-Believing Christians Should Care
This ruling affirms that the executive branch has legal room to appoint religious liberty advisors who hold a biblically grounded view of faith and civic life, without being forced into an artificial balance of competing religions. Christians should note the underlying dispute: critics frame religious liberty as inherently in tension with civil rights, while the commission's framing rejects that premise entirely. How that argument is ultimately resolved — in courts, in public opinion, and in future administrations — will shape whether biblical convictions about marriage, life, and conscience can be publicly defended without being recast as discrimination. This is a legal skirmish inside a much larger battle over the meaning of religious freedom in American law and government.
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From the book
Offensively, we use the law to dismantle unjust structures. Where a corporation or an agency violates the civil rights of religious employees, we sue, not out of vengeance but to enforce the law. And we challenge the authority of the administrative state itself, demanding that power return to the legislative branch where it is accountable to voters. That applies Counter-Rule 4 at the constitutional level, holding the government to the actual text of the statute and the Constitution rather than to whatever an agency has decided the words now mean.
— Chapter 20, “The Legal Arena”
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