In the wake of the Hobby Lobby decision, however, that bipartisan agreement crumbled. Today’s Democratic Party has sadly become radicalized on questions of religious liberty, as evidenced by the 2020 Democratic debates, which featured Beto O’Rourke—my erstwhile opponent in the 2018 U.S. Senate race in Texas—saying that he would strip churches and synagogues of their tax-exempt status and forcibly regulate religious institutions.
Beto O’Rourke, of course, has since endorsed and been embraced by Joe Biden. And Biden has since praised O’Rourke as an up-and-coming star in the modern Democratic Party who would play a leading role in a Biden administration.
The radicalization of the Democratic Party was also manifest in legislation that Senate Democrats introduced in the immediate aftermath of Hobby Lobby, which would have gutted RFRA. It would have dramatically weakened that statutory protection for faith that had passed Congress overwhelmingly.
I spoke vigorously against that legislation on the Senate floor, citing multiple Democratic presidents and flanked by a picture of no less a Democratic presidential stalwart than John F. Kennedy:
The bill that is being voted on this floor, if it were adopted, would fine the Little Sisters of the Poor millions of dollars unless these Catholic nuns are willing to pay for abortion-producing drugs for others.
Mr. President, when did the Democratic Party declare war on the Catholic Church?
Let me make a basic suggestion. If you’re litigating against nuns, you have probably done something wrong, and the Obama administration is doing so right now. Mr. President, drop your faith fines. Mr. Majority Leader [Harry Reid], drop your faith fines. To all of my Democratic colleagues, drop your faith fines. Get back to the shared values that stitch all of us together as Americans.
President John F. Kennedy, in an historic speech to the nation, said—quote—“I would not look with favor upon a president working to subvert the First Amendment’s guarantees of religious liberty.”
Mr. President, where are the Kennedys today? Does any Democrat have the courage to stand up and speak for the First Amendment today? Does any Democrat have the courage to stand up and speak for the constitutional rights of practicing Catholics? Does any Democrat have the courage to stand up and speak for the Little Sisters of the Poor? Do any Democrats have the courage to listen to the Catholic Conference of Bishops and speak for religious liberty? Mr. President, it saddens me that there are not 100 senators here unified, regardless of our faith, standing together protecting the religious liberty rights of everyone.
Sadly, protecting religious liberty got zero Democratic votes. Instead, every single Democrat in the U.S. Senate voted to nullify the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. I was heartbroken to see it, and it augers dangerous times to come.
And, in the summer of 2020, Joe Biden pledged that, if elected, he would resume the Obama administration’s ongoing persecution of the Little Sisters of the Poor.
When it comes to Democratic judicial nominations, we can expect their nominees to reflect their current hostility to faith. And, on the Supreme Court, as we’ve seen, they’re just one vote away.
CHAPTER 2
SCHOOL CHOICE AND ZELMAN V. SIMMONS-HARRIS
Religious liberty and civil rights intersect in the fight for school choice in America.
I believe that school choice is the defining civil rights struggle of our time. To be sure, public education in America is actually older than America itself. By the time the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776, at least five public high schools existed. The oldest school, and one which still stands today, is The Boston Latin School in Massachusetts. In the first half of the nineteenth century, Horace Mann served as a national trailblazer for education reform. And by the time the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, public education was ubiquitous throughout America.
There are countless outstanding public schools in America today. These are the public schools that have talented and committed teachers, that develop well-rounded curricula across academic disciplines, and prepare students for successful careers—whether that means college, graduate school, trade school, or direct entrance into the workforce. The teachers and administrators at these schools deserve praise, support, and our gratitude.
But not every child has access to an excellent education. Sadly, the caliber and quality of public education in America varies dramatically from school to school. Far too often, it is the public schools in the more affluent, suburban neighborhoods that are most able to attract and retain dedicated teachers who are skilled in pedagogy and deeply committed to the success of their students. Conversely, far too often, it is the public schools in the poorer, struggling neighborhoods of America that have difficulty attracting and retaining qualified teachers and enforcing discipline and high academic standards.
For too many low-income children, especially inner-city African-American and Hispanic children, their public-school options are severely limited. Kids unable to get a decent education see their prospects for future success dramatically limited. Education is, in most circumstances, the gateway to the American dream. It certainly was in my family when my mom became the first in her family to go to college and when my dad came from Cuba with nothing. For both, education opened the door for them to experience the promise of America.
I support school choice across the board. Scholarships, vouchers, charter schools, tax credits—all of the above: whatever gives parents and children the maximum choice for their own education and their own future.
Education is antecedent to most of our other public policy concerns. From poverty to crime to healthcare to substance abuse, if kids don’t get an education, we know that those other challenges are far more likely to follow; conversely, if children do get an excellent education, each of those problems is much more likely to be overcome.
It is a damning stain on America’s conscience that a child’s chances of life success are so heavily influenced by—perhaps dictated by—the zip code in which he or she is raised. It is a profound civil-rights crisis, about
