Will Obama End Bush’s Assault on The First Amendment?

| 05 March 2009

However, when the President disclosed his program in early February 2009, Bush’s executive order allowing discrimination was left in place. The administration claims to be studying this. What’s to study? Religious discrimination in government contracts is a clear violation of church and state.

One of the legacies of the Bush administration is the extreme, right-wing judges appointed to the circuit courts and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is now considered conservative with four far-right justices (Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito), four liberal/moderates (Stevens, Souter, Ginsberg, and Beyer) and a conservative (Kennedy) who occasionally votes with the liberals. Of these, Ruth Ginsberg (75 and underwent cancer surgery last month) and John Paul Stevens (88); both are expected to retire this term. President Obama has gone out of his way to praise the moderates on the court—we’re confident that he’ll nominate more moderates to fill any vacancies. The Republican Senate minority, however, has insisted that all judges pass anti-abortion and anti-gay litmus tests or they will filibuster. Without a filibuster-proof Senate, this could get messy. Obama must not cave in.

Another shameful Bush legacy is the handling of the Justice Department. Staffed with marginally qualified “true believers” that were hired based on ideology (many drawn from Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University law school), the department became politicized. Attorney General Eric Holder needs to weed out these ideologues, but many of them are now in civil service positions.

Other areas that Obama should pursue to secularize the administration:

Eliminate the failed Washington DC voucher program.

End the military’s connection to Christian fundamentalists.

Use science not theology when crafting public policy in teaching science, stem cell research, climate change, and sex education.

Vigorously pursue churches that violate tax laws by engaging in partisan politics.

Will Obama cater to conservative religious groups or cave in to the Republican Senate minority to broaden his base? We’re hopeful he won’t, but picking Rick Warren (a homophobic evangelical who believes the world is 6,000 years old) to give the invocation at the inauguration is not a good sign. Stay tuned.

Bill Lakin is a member of National Adversary Board of Americans United for Separation and State and can be emailed at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .