General
USCCB Amici Curiae brief in Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project (2017)
USCCB Amici Curiae brief in President Donald J. Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project, September 18, 2017
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (the “Conference” or “USCCB”) is an assembly of the leadership of the Catholic Church of the United States to which all the active Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops belong. The Conference seeks to coordinate and encourage Catholic activities in the United States; to protect religious liberty; to conduct religious, charitable and social welfare work at home and abroad; to aid in education; to care for migrants and refugees; and generally to further these goals through education, publication, and advocacy.
Our beliefs emphasize the importance of assisting the most vulnerable members of society. To that end, the Conference engages in extensive faith-based work on behalf of migrants and refugees. The Conference’s Committee on Migration sets broad policies for the Church’s work in the area of migration. Protecting refugees and finding long-lasting solutions to their plight is one of the Committee’s highest priorities. The Committee has arranged site visits to refugee areas around the world and has called for action from the international community.
The moral and religious obligation to protect migrants and refugees is owed to people of all faiths, including Muslims. As the Second Vatican Council explained in Nostra Aetate, the Church holds Islam and its adherents in “esteem” in light of the common principles and practices of the two religions.
Summary of the Argument:
The Executive Order has both the purpose and the effect of discriminating against Muslims. Prior to issuing the Executive Order, the President announced repeatedly his desire to target Muslims for denial of entry to the United States. And the Executive Order does just that, singling out the populations of six overwhelmingly Muslim nations for sweeping immigration restrictions that apply nowhere else in the world.
Such blatant religious discrimination is repugnant to the Catholic faith, core American values, and the United States Constitution. In particular, it poses a substantial threat to religious liberty that this Court has never tolerated before and should not tolerate now. Having once borne the brunt of severe discriminatory treatment, particularly in the immigration context, the Catholic Church will not sit silent while others suffer on account of their religion as well. In the words of Elie Wiesel, “[t]he opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference.” Elie Wiesel, One Must Not Forget, U.S. News & World Report, Oct. 27, 1986.
This Court should strike down the Executive Order as a violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.