The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) on Thursday filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit
against four federal agencies on plans to implement President Donald
Trump's religious exemptions executive order.
In May, Trump signed an executive order
that directs the Department of Justice to issue guidance on
“religious liberty.” In a speech given before a Christian
conservative legal group opposed to LGBT rights, Attorney General
Jeff Sessions said that the rules were forthcoming.
(Related: At
ADF summit, Jeff Sessions promised DOJ guidance on “religious
freedom.”)
“The executive order that President
Trump signed was vague and open-ended, but we know that this
administration is exploring different ways to license discrimination
against women and the LGBT community, among others, in the name of
religion,” Louise Melling, deputy legal director of the ACLU, said
in a statement. “Now that the administration has taken its first
steps to use religious exemptions to pave the way for discrimination,
the American people deserve clarity and transparency on what is
coming next.”
The ACLU is demanding any
communications connected to implementation of the order.
A leaked draft of the executive order
sought to protect persons and organizations that oppose marriage
equality and abortion rights and believe that a person's sex is
determined at or before birth. The actual order signed by Trump
allows religious organizations to endorse political candidates and
directs Sessions to “issue guidance interpreting religious liberty
protections in Federal law.”