Statement of Commissioner Gail Heriot in the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' Report 'Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties'

Abstract

In September of 2016, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights published its report, "Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties. This Commissioner Statement by Commissioner Gail Heriot (also a professor of law at the University of San Diego) was part of that report. It critiques both the conclusions arrived at in that report and the arguments that tend to take a constricted view of religious liberty made by her fellow Commissioners in that report. In particular, she disagrees with the Commission's conclusion that anti discrimination laws are "preeminent" and that religious liberty is not. She also discusses various legislative bills pending in various states ― cited in the report as evidence of a massive backlash against the LGBT community ― including bills that deal with adoption agencies affiliated with churches that do not recognize same-sex marriage and bills modeled after the previously-uncontroversial federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Keywords: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Free Exercise, Religious Liberty, Religious Freedom Restoration Act, First Amendment, Civil Rights, Adoption, Civil Society, LGBT Rights, Transgender

JEL Classification: A00, A10, K10