Key Legislative Concerns

With the new Democrat leadership in both the House and Senate, it's been a very busy time on Capitol Hill.  The ACLJ legal team and Government Affairs office is busy tracking a number of key legislative issues. 

First, thanks to the many who supported the ACLJ's effort to challenge an attempt to redefine lobbyists to include churches and non-profit organizations.

With you help, the ACLJ worked with members of the House and Senate on both sides of the aisle to beat back an attempt to silence grassroots advocacy, including the speech of your pastor.  We opposed troubling language on constitutional grounds and were victorious on the Senate floor, in the House Judiciary Committee, and on the House floor.  This was an extremely important statement in support of all of our First Amendment rights.

At the same time, there are numerous other legislative items on the agenda that require our attention.  While Congress is on recess this week, here's a look at some of the key measures that we will be focusing on before the end of the year:

Fairness Doctrine

In a similar effort to restrict speech, the Democrat leadership has made several comments recently about moving to reinstate the unconstitutional Fairness Doctrine.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Congressman Maurine Hinchey have all expressed support for this effort.  If reinstated, the Fairness Doctrine would mandate that broadcasters who air programming on controversial topics to also air the opposing viewpoint.  This would significantly stifle speech, and the net result would be that conservative programming would be taken off the air to avoid violating the regulation.

The ACLJ is working to reveal the fallacy of this effort, beginning with the constitutional concerns involving a reinstated Fairness Doctrine.  Additionally, with todays technology, there is more than enough broadcast opportunities for all sides of an issue to be discussed without implementing this mandate.

Freedom of Choice

Immediately following the Supreme Courts decision to uphold the Partial Birth Abortion Act, Congressman Nadler of New York and Senator Boxer of California responded by introducing the Freedom of Choice Act.  This troubling legislation would codify Roe v. Wade and strip Congress of the right to restrict abortion in any way.  This is not only an attack on the sanctity of life, but also a violation of the carefully crafted separation of powers.  The ACLJ's Government Affairs office continues to carefully monitor this situation and we stand ready to vigorously oppose any advancement of this language.

Stem Cell

At the same time, the Democrat leadership is pursuing a two-pronged attack on life.  In addition to the Freedom of Choice Act, an anti-life effort is underway to use taxpayer dollars for stem cell research that requires the destruction of a human embryo.  The latest version of this effort has cleared the Senate and awaits a vote in the House.  Considering that the House has already approved a similar measure, it is likely this legislation will again be approved in the House.  We are currently working to ensure that President Bush vetoes the bill as he has promised to do as well as preserve the narrow veto-proof margin that we have in both the House and the Senate.

Employment Non-Discrimination Act

Finally, we expect the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee to soon consider legislation that would prohibit employers from making decisions based on a number of factors.  We are monitoring this very closely and will examine closely how such a measure is crafted and the language it contains.  In the past, for example, previous legislators restricted employers rights to enforce dress codes and codes of conduct.  We will continue to stay on top of this effort to ensure that the rights all organizations are protected.

The American Center for Law and Justice remains dedicated to protecting your constitutional and religious freedoms - whether that means taking action in court, engaging the issues in the court of public opinion, or being actively involved in the legislative arena.

You can stay in touch with the latest news and insight via this website and on Jay Sekulow Live! - the daily radio broadcast of ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow.