Ben Sasse: “I rise today to address the recently released new report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights entitled ``Peaceful…”

“I rise today to address the recently released new report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights entitled ``Peaceful Coexistence: Reconciling Nondiscrimination Principles with Civil Liberties.'' The Commission on Civil Rights has a glorious and profound history in our Nation. Founded in 1957, the Commission initially had the grand cause of ending the horror and the tragedy of Jim Crow laws in our Nation. Sadly, however, the Commission's focus has recently strayed, and its new report poses profound threats to the historic American understanding of our First Amendment. In the Commission's just released report, the majority reveals a disturbingly low view of our first freedoms. It actually puts the term ``religious liberty'' in scare quotes, and it says that religious liberty must now be subservient to other values. Here is a snapshot of the majority's position from this new report, in their own words: Progress toward social justice depends upon the enactment of, and vigorous enforcement of, status-based nondiscrimination laws. Limited claims for religious liberty are allowed only when religious liberty comes into direct conflict with nondiscrimination precepts.…”