Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Monday that he will assume personal leadership of a Justice Department task force aimed at protecting religious freedoms.
The Religious Liberty Task Force will focus on protecting religious groups when government rules infringe on their ability to practice their beliefs.
“Freedom of religion has been a core American principle from the very beginning of our country — indeed, it is our ‘first freedom,’” Sessions said Monday, according to the Washington Examiner.
“President Trump promised that he would make preserving and protecting our religious liberty the first priority of his administration. The Department of Justice is committed to assisting with that effort,” Sessions said at the Justice Department’s Religious Liberty Summit.
Sessions said the task force is a response to threats against religious freedom.
“A dangerous movement, undetected by many, but real, is (now) challenging and eroding a great tradition of religious freedom,” Sessions said, according to The Washington Times. “There can be no doubt it’s no little matter. It must be confronted intellectually and politically and defeated.”
“Today I am announcing our next step: the Religious Liberty Task Force, to be co-chaired by the Associate Attorney General and the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy.”—Attorney General Sessions at DOJ’s Religious Liberty Summit https://t.co/NC0oBr5ine pic.twitter.com/YTi5T4p9ZB
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) July 30, 2018
Representatives from the Civil Rights Division, Civil Division, Office of Legal Counsel and Office of Legal Policy will also participate in the task force. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]Days after laughing along with young conservatives who started a “lock her up chant” at a young conservatives conference in Washington and even saying the words himself, Sessions backed away after a raft of over-reactionary think pieces from entirely predictable sources that freaked out about it.
The whole thing began at the Turning Point USA conference earlier this week, at which Sessions was a speaker.
“I like this bunch, I gotta tell you,” Sessions said. “You’re not going to be backing down. Go get ’em. Go get ’em!”
JUST IN: AG Sessions laughingly echoes "lock her up" as audience at a high school leadership summit in DC begins chant. pic.twitter.com/csv194SpU5
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 24, 2018
In an opinion piece on CNN titled “Jeff Sessions’ smile at ‘lock her up’ tells us everything,” Peggy Drexler posited that “(t)hose looking for evidence that President Donald Trump’s misogynistic attitude and tone have effectively penetrated the culture need look no further than Tuesday’s conservative leadership conference in Washington.”
So, speaking about an incident which occurred just seconds after the attorney general extolled the virtues of “not … backing down,” Sessions decided to back down.
“Well, I met I with a group of enthusiastic high school students and they spontaneously broke into that chant. Perhaps should have taken a moment to advise them that … you’re presumed innocent until cases are made,” Sessions said during a Thursday press conference. – READ MORE
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