A federal judge on July 27 threw out a lawsuit that aimed to stop President Donald Trump’s religious liberty advisory board from issuing its report.
A group of plaintiffs led by Interfaith Alliance sued the commission, alleging the group was in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, since it was not “fairly balanced,” and had not been transparent about the sources used in its decision-making.
Trump, former Attorney General Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice were included as defendants in the lawsuit.
Although U.S. District Judge John Cronan found that Interfaith Alliance and other organizations had standing to bring their suit, he dismissed their arguments on the merits.
Cronan said the law was not specific enough to back up their claim, since it didn’t specify which views had to be balanced, “what constitutes an appropriate or ‘fair’ balance,” or which individuals would represent that balance.
“Lacking clear answers to these questions, courts have been highly deferential in reviewing a committee’s composition,” Cronan wrote, adding that a decision of this type is “a political task not properly undertaken by life-tenured, unelected federal judges.”
The plaintiffs included Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu advocacy groups who argued the Religious Liberty Commission was unbalanced since its members’ backgrounds only included Christian and Jewish faiths.
But Cronan ruled that the faith background of the Commission’s members was not relevant, since the group’s function was to address questions of religious liberty, and issue a report on their findings.
The plaintiffs’ claim that the commission had not been transparent in publishing witness lists or information about its meetings was also irrelevant, Judge Cronan ruled, since the group published those records after the suit was filed. There was no legal requirement to publish the documents while the Commission’s work was still ongoing, he said.
Interfaith Alliance head, Baptist minister Rev. Paul Raushenbush, also joined the suit. He had applied for a seat on the Commission but never received a response, and argued that meant he had not been given “fair consideration.”
Raushenbush had no standing to sue at all, the judge ruled.
“After all, if Reverend Raushenbush has standing to challenge the composition of the RLC’s membership, then presumably any individual with a passion for religious issues could manufacture standing by submitting an application to join the RLC.”
He also pointed out that Rausenbush’s “application” to join the commission was a letter he sent to Trump and Bondi, but he sent it seven months after the commission members were selected.
