DOE ends enforcement of unconstitutional ban on religious contractors

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Kellie Fiedorek regarding Monday’s announcement by the U.S. Department of Education that it will no longer enforce existing restrictions that prohibit religious organizations from being contract providers of neutral, non-ideological services solely on the basis of the organizations’ religious affiliations:

“Religious organizations should be free to compete to provide goods and services to schools and colleges on a level playing field with everyone else. For that reason, we commend the Trump administration and the Department of Education for recognizing the unconstitutional nature of the existing ban on religious contractors who are providing secular services. As Secretary DeVos rightly noted, such a ban can’t be enforced in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the ADF case Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer, which found that excluding an organization from a public program solely on the basis of the organization’s religious character is ‘odious to our Constitution…and cannot stand.’”