BOM15716 S.L.C.

114TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. ll

To ensure that the Federal Government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recog-nized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

llllllllll llllllllll introduced the following bill; which was read twice

and referred to the Committee on llllllllll

A BILL To ensure that the Federal Government shall not take any

discriminatory action against a person, wholly or par-tially on the basis that such person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1

tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2

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BOM15716 S.L.C.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1

This Act may be cited as the First Amendment De-2

fense Act. 3

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4

Congress finds the following: 5

(1) Leading legal scholars concur that conflicts 6

between same-sex marriage and religious liberty are 7

real and should be addressed through legislation. 8

(2) As the President stated in response to the 9

decision of the Supreme Court in United States v. 10

Windsor, 133 S. Ct. 2675 (2013), Americans hold 11

a wide range of views on the issue of same-sex 12

marriage, and maintaining our Nations commit-13

ment to religious freedom is vital. 14

(3) Nevertheless, in 2015, when asked whether 15

a religious school could lose its tax-exempt status for 16

opposing same-sex marriage, the Solicitor General of 17

the United States represented to the United States 18

Supreme Court that [i]ts certainly going to be an 19

issue. 20

(4) Protecting religious freedom from govern-21

ment intrusion is a government interest of the high-22

est order. Legislation advances this interest by rem-23

edying, deterring, and preventing government inter-24

ference with religious exercise in a way that com-25

plements the protections mandated by the First 26

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BOM15716 S.L.C.

Amendment to the Constitution of the United 1

States. 2

(5) Laws that protect the free exercise of reli-3

gious beliefs and moral convictions about marriage 4

will encourage private citizens and institutions to 5

demonstrate tolerance for those beliefs and convic-6

tions and therefore contribute to a more respectful, 7

diverse, and peaceful society. 8

(6) In a pluralistic society, in which people of 9

good faith hold more than one view of marriage, it 10

is possible for the government to recognize same-sex 11

marriage as required by the United States Supreme 12

Court without forcing persons with sincerely held re-13

ligious beliefs or moral convictions to the contrary to 14

conform. 15

SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF THE FREE EXERCISE OF RELI-16

GIOUS BELIEFS AND MORAL CONVICTIONS. 17

(a) IN GENERAL.Notwithstanding any other provi-18

sion of law, the Federal Government shall not take any 19

discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially 20

on the basis that such person believes, speaks, or acts in 21

accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral 22

conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the 23

union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations 24

are properly reserved to such a marriage. 25

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BOM15716 S.L.C.

(b) DISCRIMINATORY ACTION DEFINED.As used in 1

subsection (a), a discriminatory action means any action 2

taken by the Federal Government to 3

(1) alter in any way the Federal tax treatment 4

of, or cause any tax, penalty, or payment to be as-5

sessed against, or deny, delay, or revoke an exemp-6

tion from taxation under section 501(a) of the Inter-7

nal Revenue Code of 1986 of, any person referred to 8

in subsection (a); 9

(2) disallow a deduction for Federal tax pur-10

poses of any charitable contribution made to or by 11

such person; 12

(3) withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate, or oth-13

erwise make unavailable or deny any Federal grant, 14

contract, subcontract, cooperative agreement, guar-15

antee, loan, scholarship, license, certification, accred-16

itation, employment, or other similar position or sta-17

tus from or to such person; 18

(4) withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate, or oth-19

erwise make unavailable or deny any entitlement or 20

benefit under a Federal benefit program, including 21

admission to, equal treatment in, or eligibility for a 22

degree from an educational program, from or to 23

such person; or 24

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(5) withhold, reduce, exclude, terminate or oth-1

erwise make unavailable or deny access or an entitle-2

ment to Federal property, facilities, educational in-3

stitutions, speech fora (including traditional, limited, 4

and nonpublic fora), or charitable fundraising cam-5

paigns from or to such person. 6

(c) ACCREDITATION; LICENSURE; CERTIFICATION. 7

The Federal Government shall consider accredited, li-8

censed, or certified for purposes of Federal law any person 9

that would be accredited, licensed, or certified, respec-10

tively, for such purposes but for a determination against 11

such person wholly or partially on the basis that the per-12

son believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with the sin-13

cerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions described 14

in subsection (a). 15

SEC. 4. JUDICIAL RELIEF. 16

(a) CAUSE OF ACTION.A person may assert an ac-17

tual or threatened violation of this Act as a claim or de-18

fense in a judicial or administrative proceeding and obtain 19

compensatory damages, injunctive relief, declaratory re-20

lief, or any other appropriate relief against the Federal 21

Government. Standing to assert a claim or defense under 22

this section shall be governed by the general rules of 23

standing under Article III of the Constitution. 24

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(b) ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES NOT REQUIRED. 1

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an action 2

under this section may be commenced, and relief may be 3

granted, in a United States district court without regard 4

to whether the person commencing the action has sought 5

or exhausted available administrative remedies. 6

(c) ATTORNEYS FEES.Section 722(b) of the Re-7

vised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended by insert-8

ing the First Amendment Defense Act, after the Reli-9

gious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 10

2000,. 11

(d) AUTHORITY OF UNITED STATES TO ENFORCE 12

THIS ACT.The Attorney General may bring an action 13

for injunctive or declaratory relief against an independent 14

establishment described in section 104(1) of title 5, United 15

States Code, or an officer or employee of that independent 16

establishment, to enforce compliance with this Act. Noth-17

ing in this subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, 18

or otherwise affect any right or authority of the Attorney 19

General, the United States, or any agency, officer, or em-20

ployee of the United States, acting under any law other 21

than this subsection, to institute or intervene in any pro-22

ceeding. 23

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SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. 1

(a) NO PREEMPTION, REPEAL, OR NARROW CON-2

STRUCTION.Nothing in this Act shall be construed to 3

preempt State law, or repeal Federal law, that is equally 4

or more protective of free exercise of religious beliefs and 5

moral convictions. Nothing in this Act shall be construed 6

to narrow the meaning or application of any State or Fed-7

eral law protecting free exercise of religious beliefs and 8

moral convictions. Nothing in this Act shall be construed 9

to prevent the Federal Government from providing, either 10

directly or through a person not seeking protection under 11

this Act, any benefit or service authorized under Federal 12

law. 13

(b) SEVERABILITY.If any provision of this Act or 14

any application of such provision to any person or cir-15

cumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder 16

of this Act and the application of the provision to any 17

other person or circumstance shall not be affected. 18

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 19

In this Act: 20

(1) FEDERAL BENEFIT PROGRAM.The term 21

Federal benefit program has the meaning given 22

that term in section 552a of title 5, United States 23

Code. 24

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(2) FEDERAL; FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.The 1

terms Federal and Federal Government in-2

clude 3

(A) any department, commission, board, or 4

other agency of the Federal Government; 5

(B) any officer, employee, or agent of the 6

Federal Government; and 7

(C) the District of Columbia and all Fed-8

eral territories and possessions. 9

(3) PERSON.The term person means a per-10

son as defined in section 1 of title 1, United States 11

Code, except that such term shall not include 12

(A) publicly traded for-profit entities; 13

(B) Federal employees acting within the 14

scope of their employment; 15

(C) Federal for-profit contractors acting 16

within the scope of their contract; or 17

(D) hospitals, clinics, hospices, nursing 18

homes, or other medical or residential custodial 19

facilities with respect to visitation, recognition 20

of a designated representative for health care 21

decisionmaking, or refusal to provide medical 22

treatment necessary to cure an illness or injury. 23