When President Donald Trump established the so-called Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) on May 1, 2025, he claimed that the RLC’s purpose was to defend “religious liberty for all Americans” and celebrate “religious pluralism.” In reality, the RLC’s membership consists exclusively of Christians, except for one Orthodox Jewish Rabbi, all of whom collectively represent the narrow perspective that America was founded as a “Judeo-Christian” nation and must be guided by Biblical principles. No members of the commission represent other minority religions, such as Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or Sikhism, or non-religious Americans, and the RLC’s meetings have expressly promoted the view that the United States was founded as a “Judeo-Christian nation.” The RLC thus violates guidelines—set by law through the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA)—requiring a fair balance of viewpoints on advisory committees like the RLC. The RLC has also failed to meet FACA’s transparency requirements, which are critical for ensuring public accountability and openness in government.
So on February 9, 2026, we joined Democracy Forward in filing a lawsuit challenging the RLC on behalf of a multifaith coalition. Our clients are Interfaith Alliance and its president, Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, Muslims for Progressive Values, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Hindus for Human Rights. The lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, asks the court to declare that the RLC was created and administered in violation of federal law, to require the disclosure of documents that should already be public, and to ensure that any reports or recommendations produced by the RLC are clearly identified as coming from an unlawfully constituted commission.
In March 2026, the RLC announced that it would be abruptly concluding its operations a year and a half ahead of schedule and would soon issue its final report. So on April 2, 2026, we filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the RLC from publishing its report while our case over the legality of the commission proceeds. A hearing on that motion has been set for May 28, 2026.
