Religion and the Administrative State

Friday, March 22, 2019

It seems the administration of federal law increasingly involves the interaction of government and religion. How should we think about the intersection of religion and the administrative state?

From the Affordable Care Act, to President Trump’s executive orders on entry to the United States, to state civil rights commissions administering state antidiscrimination laws, we find more and more litigation raising questions about the Constitution, federal and state statutes, and religious liberty. Indeed, such issues have become a significant part of the Supreme Court’s docket in recent years. How should courts and policymakers grapple with these issues?

This public policy conference aimed to discuss these matters, in the big-picture sense and also in terms of specific case studies, based on significant new legal scholarship written by Helen M. Alvare, Michael P. Moreland, Mark L. Movsesian, and Mark L. Rienzi. 

The event was held in Founders Hall at George Mason University’s Arlington, Virginia campus.

Agenda

8:15 – 9:00 am – Registration and Breakfast

9:00 – 9:05 am – Welcome

Adam White, Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University 

9:05 – 10:35 am – Panel 1: The Future of Religious Liberty – Click here to watch the video of the full panel!

Helen Alvaré, Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Garrett Epps, Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law
Richard B. Katskee, Legal Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Mark Movsesian, Frederick A. Whitney Professor of Contract Law, St. John’s University, School of Law; and Director, Center for Law and Religion
Vincent Phillip Muñoz, Tocqueville Associate Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Associate Professor of Law, The University of Notre Dame, Department of Political Science; and Director, Tocqueville Program for Inquiry into Religion and Public Life and the Potenziani Program in Constitutional Studies

Moderator: Adam White, Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

10:35 – 10:50 am – Break 

10:50 – 11:55 am – Panel 2: Unions and Religious Schools—A Case Study – Click here to watch the video of the full panel! 

Gregory M. Lipper, Partner, Clinton & Peed
Michael P. Moreland, University Professor of Law and Religion, Villanova University, Charles Widger School of Law; and Director, Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy
Timothy J. Taylor, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Labor

Moderator: Sheldon Gilbert, Vice President for Content and Development and Senior Fellow, National Constitution Center

11:55 am – 12:00 pm – Break

12:00 – 1:00 pm – Lunch & Keynote, – Click here to watch the video of the keynote address!

The Honorable Stuart Kyle Duncan, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

1:00 – 1:10 pm – Break

1:10 – 2:35 pm – Panel 3: Religion and the Administrative State – Click here to watch the video of the full panel!

Justin Butterfield, Senior Advisor, Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Brianne J. Gorod, Chief Counsel, Constitutional Accountability Center
Mark L. Rienzi, Professor of Law, The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
Adrian Vermeule, Ralph S. Tyler, Jr., Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School

Moderator: Andrew Kloster, Deputy Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

2:35 – 2:50 pm – Break

2:50 – 4:05 pm – Panel 4: The Contraceptive Mandate—A Case Study – Click here to watch the video of the full panel!

Helen Alvaré, Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Renée M. Landers, Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Suffolk University Law School
Diana Verm, Counsel, Becket

Moderator: JoAnn Koob, Director, Liberty & Law Center, and Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

4:05 pm – Adjourn

Presented Research Papers

• A Perfect Storm: Religion, Sex, and Administrative Law
  Helen M. Alvaré, Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
• The Sickness Unto Death of the Freedom of Speech
  Marc O. DeGirolami, Professor of Law, St. John’s University School of Law; and Associate Director, Center for Law and Religion
• Adjunct Faculty Unionization and Religiously Affiliated Universities
  Michael P. Moreland, University Professor of Law and Religion, Charles Widger School of Law, Villanova University; and Director, Eleanor H. McCullen Center for Law, Religion and Public Policy
• Masterpiece Cakeshop and the Future of Religious Freedom
  Mark Movsesian, Frederick A. Whitney Professor of Contract Law, St. John’s University School of Law; and Director, Center for Law and Religion
• Administrative Power and Religious Liberty at the Supreme Court
  Mark L. Rienzi, Professor of Law, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America