Sasse Leads Senate Rebuke of Anti-Catholic Tests

Wednesday night on the Senate floor, Nebraska U.S. Senator Ben Sasse led an effort to reaffirm religious liberty and condemn religious tests for federal officials. The Senate unanimously adopted his resolution, rebuking recent anti-Catholic lines of questioning from Judiciary Committee Democrats.
“This isn’t a Republican belief, this isn’t a Democratic belief, this is an American belief,” said Sasse. “This is a super-basic point: no religious tests. If someone has a problem with this resolution, what other parts of the Constitution are you against? Freedom of the press? Women’s right to vote? Freedom of speech? This isn’t hard. No religious tests for serving on the federal bench. We should in this body rebuke these anti-Catholic attacks.”

In recent weeks, Brian Buescher, the nominee to be the U.S. District Judge for the District of Nebraska, has come under attack for his membership in the Knights of Columbus, the world’s largest Catholic fraternal service organization.

Sasse’s resolution affirmed John F. Kennedy’s famous condemnation of anti-Catholic bigotry and held that “it is the sense of the Senate that disqualifying a nominee to Federal office on the basis of membership in the Knights of Columbus violates the No Religious Test clause of the Constitution.”
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