A NBC News and Columbia Journalism Investigations review of dozens of court cases found that in its first two years the Trump administration’s Justice Department submitted more friend-of-the-court briefs in religious liberties cases than the Obama administration and the Bush administration during their first two years. It has also filed briefs at lower, trial court levels faster than both of the two previous administrations.
The filings are in keeping with the Trump administration’s forthright position on religious liberty. “A dangerous movement, undetected by many, is now challenging and eroding our great tradition of religious freedom,” then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions said at the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Summit last July.
