Marriage and Religious Freedom Act - Prohibits the federal government from taking an adverse action against a person on the basis that such person acts in accordance with a religious belief that: (1) marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or (2) sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage.
Defines "adverse action" as any federal government action to discriminate against a person who is acting in accordance with such religious belief, including a federal government action to:
Permits a person to assert an actual or threatened violation of this Act as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and to obtain compensatory damages or other appropriate relief against the federal government.
Authorizes the Attorney General (DOJ) to bring actions against certain independent establishments of the executive branch (certain establishments in the executive branch, other than the U.S. Postal Service [USPS] and the Postal Regulatory Commission, that are not executive departments, military departments, or government corporations) to enforce this Act.
Specifies that the term "person" includes any person regardless of religious affiliation, as well as corporations and other entities regardless of for-profit or nonprofit status.
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1808 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1808
To prevent adverse treatment of any person on the basis of views held
with respect to marriage.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 12 (legislative day, December 11), 2013
Mr. Lee (for himself, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Coburn,
Mr. Rubio, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Blunt, Mr. Wicker, Mr. Risch, Mr. Graham, and
Mr. Cochran) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prevent adverse treatment of any person on the basis of views held
with respect to marriage.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Marriage and Religious Freedom
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Leading legal scholars concur that conflicts between
same-sex marriage and religious liberty are real and should be
legislatively addressed.
(2) As the President stated in response to the decision of
the Supreme Court on the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013,
``Americans hold a wide range of views'' on the issue of same-
sex marriage, and ``maintaining our Nation's commitment to
religious freedom'' is ``vital''.
(3) Protecting religious freedom from Government intrusion
is a Government interest of the highest order. Legislatively
enacted measures advance this interest by remedying, deterring,
and preventing Government interference with religious exercise
in a way that complements the protections mandated by the First
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
(4) Laws that protect the free exercise of religious
beliefs about marriage will encourage private citizens and
institutions to demonstrate similar tolerance and therefore
contribute to a more respectful, diverse, and peaceful society.
SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF THE FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the
Federal Government shall not take an adverse action against a person,
wholly or partially on the basis that such person acts in accordance
with a religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the
union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly
reserved to such a marriage.
(b) Adverse Action Defined.--As used in subsection (a), an adverse
action means any action taken by the Federal Government to--
(1) deny or revoke an exemption from taxation under section
501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 of the person who
is acting in accordance with the religious belief referred to
in subsection (a);
(2) disallow a deduction for Federal tax purposes of any
charitable contribution made to or by such person;
(3) alter in any way the Federal tax treatment of, or cause
any tax, penalty, or payment to be assessed against, such
person or such person's employees with respect to any benefit
provided or not provided by such person to such person's
employees, wholly or partially on the basis that the benefit is
provided or not provided on account of a religious belief
referred to in subsection (a);
(4) deem any employee benefit plan covering employees of
such person to have lost its status as a ``qualified plan''
under section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or
to be in violation of any part of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.), wholly or
partially on the basis that the benefit plan fails to provide a
benefit, right, or feature on account of such person's
religious belief referred to in subsection (a);
(5) deny or exclude such person from receiving any Federal
grant, contract, cooperative agreement, loan, license,
certification, accreditation, employment, or other similar
position or status;
(6) deny or withhold from such person any benefit under a
Federal benefit program; or
(7) otherwise discriminate against such person.
SEC. 4. JUDICIAL RELIEF.
(a) Cause of Action.--A person may assert an actual or threatened
violation of this Act as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding
and obtain compensatory damages, injunctive relief, declaratory relief,
or any other appropriate relief against the Federal Government.
Standing to assert a claim or defense under this section shall be
governed by the general rules of standing under Article III of the
Constitution.
(b) Attorneys' Fees.--Section 722(b) of the Revised Statutes (42
U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended by inserting ``the Marriage and Religious
Freedom Act,'' after ``the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized
Persons Act of 2000,''.
(c) Authority of United States To Enforce This Act.--The Attorney
General may bring an action for injunctive or declaratory relief
against an independent establishment described in section 104(1) of
title 5, United States Code, or an officer or employee of that
independent establishment, to enforce compliance with this Act. Nothing
in this subsection shall be construed to deny, impair, or otherwise
affect any right or authority of the Attorney General, the United
States, or any agency, officer, or employee of the United States,
acting under any law other than this subsection, to institute or
intervene in any proceeding.
SEC. 5. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
(a) Broad Construction.--This Act shall be construed in favor of a
broad protection of religious beliefs described in section 3, to the
maximum extent permitted by the terms of this Act and the Constitution.
(b) No Preemption, Repeal, or Narrow Construction.--Nothing in this
Act shall be construed to preempt State law, or repeal Federal law,
that is equally as protective of religious beliefs as, or more
protective of religious beliefs than, this Act. Nothing in this Act
shall be considered to narrow the meaning or application of any other
State or Federal law protecting religious beliefs.
(c) Severability.--If any provision of this Act or any application
of such provision to any person or circumstance is held to be
unconstitutional, the remainder of this Act and the application of the
provision to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Federal benefit program.--The term ``Federal benefit
program'' has the meaning given that term in section 552a of
title 5, United States Code.
(2) Federal government.--The term ``Federal Government''
includes each authority of any branch of the Government of the
United States.
(3) Person.--The term ``person'' means a person as defined
in section 1 of title 1, United States Code, and includes any
such person regardless of religious affiliation or lack
thereof, and regardless of for-profit or nonprofit status.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
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