Sessions speech to Heritage Foundation says religious expression overrides civil rights laws.

[kpete]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

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Sessions also says it's "not the province...of courts to say whether a policy is compassionate," in contrast to legal history

Link to tweet

[underpants]

1. God I hate racist Christian elves

[Initech]

7. I loathe them but I hate the Heritage Foundation more.

They are out to undermine and destroy the very fabric of the United States so their billionaire backers can quadruple their already ill gotten fortunes. They are a terrorist organization with clear hostile intentions and they should be treated as such.

[spanone]

2. marching to theocracy

[ProudLib72]

3. Calling all angry racists

Come tell us how you are being victimized by the mere existence of other people on this planet.

[Initech]

4. The Heritage Foundation is a terrorist organization. They should be treated as such.

[unblock]

5. which religion says "thou shalt not bake cakes for teh gay?"

[Stonepounder]

21. Probably the same one that says:

"Thou shalt not serve Blacks" or
"Thou shalt not allow your wife to speak in this restaurant" or
"Thou shalt not allow Muslims in thy store" or ...

And this this is our Attorney General?!?!

[unblock]

35. The scary thing is I think sessions is probably the most normal person in that bunch

And he's definitely not normal....

[C_U_L8R]

6. Racism is their religion

At least they're starting to admit it.

[Initech]

9. Also sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny.

[Alice11111]

8. Someone should read& explain the Constitution to USAG,

our chief lawyer, to model and enforce the Constitution.
He is really stupid, plus unaware of his own bias, that clouds his judgment.

It must be hard for real lawyers to work under him. It would be like watching doctors give shots to infect their patients.
I praise.those who stay to slow Sessions down or undermine him anyway possible.

[angrychair]

10. Just add this

To the growing list I posted the other day:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029733638

As an atheist, I am in serious trouble and I fear what we are becoming every dystopian nightmare story I’ve ever read or watched, comes to mind... but unfortunately I think some of these worst visions of the future will pale in comparison to the reality we will be forced to live in.

[vlyons]

11. well maybe if they stopped thumping their bibles in our faces and trying to shove their white Jesus

down our throats, we wouldn't be so hostile. Ya think?

So tell us Jeff, does us saying critical things about your religion qualify as our free right of religious expression? Are we allowed to express our opinion that your religion stinks. Or as Marx would say, "religion is poison." That's Karl Marx, not Groucho Marx.

[tulipsandroses]

12. So just how far do these religous freedoms go?

I have wondered if they apply these standards in other situations.

I'm an RN. I have had to provide care to child molesters and murderers. I am disgusted by pedophiles, but as a nurse, when they are admitted to the hospital, I don't refuse to take care of them. I have often wondered if the folks claiming these religious freedoms, refuse to service other people that they deem are committing a sin.

[maxrandb]

13. Don't you just love how these pricks

use Martin Luther King to defend their discrimination against others.

I think Napoleon was right when he said; "religion is what keeps the poor from eating the rich"

[MiniMe]

14. Where is the part that Freedom of Religion trumps civil rights, as long as it is Christian

If you want to express your religion and you are Muslim, forget it

[BootinUp]

15. Zealots exposed is better in the long run. Nt

[Madam45for2923]

16. Sounds sharia law like to me.

[workinclasszero]

20. That's exactly what it is

The religious right republicans are our homegrown ISIS.

[angrychair]

17. Best response to Sessons

Link to tweet

[malaise]

18. So the Attorney General has publicly stated he will not obey the COnstitution

OK then

[IADEMO2004]

28. Now go home Jefferson Beauregard. You are unqualified to serve as AG

[malaise]

33. Clearly

This is madness

[workinclasszero]

19. "religious expression overrides civil rights laws"

Totally paving the way for a religious dictatorship in America.

[BSdetect]

22. This insanity will not end well. If it ever does end.

[kairos12]

23. We find ourselves in a Keebler elf orchestrated theocracy.

[Solly Mack]

24. Fuck that piece of shit and everyone who agrees with him.

[world wide wally]

25. Totally perverted

[guillaumeb]

26. It does........

in a theocracy. Ask Saudi Arabian women.

[Eliot Rosewater]

27. All avoidable. Yep.

We knew, some of us knew.

[Docreed2003]

29. Christian Sharia Law...

Fuck you Jeff...your personal religion does not supersede the civil rights of any individual, no matter how much you might wish them to. This speech and the actions taken by the current Dept of “so called” Justice are appalling and an assault on everything this country is supposed to stand for. The evangelical right has been creeping and pushing their way into politics for far too long and it’s time to push back.

[onenote]

30. Very important point of historical significance

One the very first cases brought under the 1964 Civil Rights Act involved a restaurant that refused to serve African-Americans inside the restaurant (but would serve them with take out). The defendant claimed that applying the Civil Rights Act to make him serve African Americans would infringe on his constitutional right to the free exercise of his religious beliefs (such beliefs apparently being that the races should not be mixed). The Supreme Court gave this argument the back of its hand.

Sessions, apparently believes that was a wrong decision and that anyone claiming a religious ground for discriminating -- including discriminating on the basis of race or religion -- should be allowed to do so.

Asswipe.

[alphafemale]

31. I thought the lawsuit was because they bullied and harassed the couple

On social media and other public places.

I had heard at the time they even hounded the couples little girl.

On her grade school's website of all places.

[DFW]

32. Sessions took an oath to uphold the Constitution

He just violated that oath. I hope the press hounds him every day for this.

The only thing religious expression overrides is his judgment.

Let him go conduct the second round of the Spanish Inquisition on his own time, and leave the rest of America alone. What burns me up more than anything else is that these charter members of the God Squad don't believe one bit of the malarkey they are spewing out. They are only doing it for their audience, who seem to consist of the kind of person who goes to a Joel Osteen sermon and truly thinks he'll be a billionaire by the next Friday evening.

[YOHABLO]

34. They have the Banks, the air waves, and the Supreme Court. When does the war begin?

[DallasNE]

36. Sessions Stands Everything On Its Head

Our Founding Fathers were mostly Deists. That is about one step away from being Atheist. The First Amendment was as much about freedom from religion as it was about freedom of religion. They wanted to keep government completely neutral on the subject and to that end they put in the Establishment Clause. It was only in the era of Justice Scalia where personhood was granted to corporations that an individuals First Amendment rights were infringed upon by a person senior to them - the corporation.

Here Sessions just takes it to the next level by saying government actions are subject to biblical limitations. In small steps the Establishment Clause has evaporated into thin air. Gone. The same things happened earlier with the Second Amendment where the "well regulated militia" language has evaporated into thin air and left us with the likes of Las Vegas and Newtown. That is the kind of damage the Courts can do as they systematically dismantle the Bill of Rights.