In a straight party line vote (11-10) last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Loren AliKhan for a seat on the DC District Court. Her nomination now moves to the full Senate. If confirmed by the full Senate, AliKhan – the daughter of immigrants from Pakistan – would be the first female South Asian to serve on the DC District Court.
AliKhan believes the government should be able to interfere with a religious group's free exercise right to hire and fire its minister. Specifically, she argued in a lawsuit filed against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the "ministerial exception" should not allow religious groups to hire or fire a minister without state intrusion.
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected her claim. Phillip Jauregui, senior counsel and director of the Center for Judicial Renewal at AFA Action, says the high court's response is revealing.
"The [Supreme] Court voted 9-0 to reject her argument [in the EEOC case] and said it was absolutely 'untenable.' Even the most liberal members of the court wouldn't agree with her," he points out. "So, if she can't even get one of them to agree with her – and if she's that leftist and radical – she shouldn't be on a federal court as a judge."
AliKhan's discriminatory hostility towards churches, according to Jauregui, was also on display during the COVID pandemic.
"In the DC area, she took the position that churches couldn't meet, [that they] couldn't even meet outside; whereas liberal protesters could meet and protest," he explains. "That's just oppressive. It tells you where someone's coming from if they would take that position."
AFA Action has alerted its followers, urging them to contact their senators and requesting they vote against AliKhan's nomination. Jauregui says several Democratic senators running for reelection next year might vote against her confirmation in the full Senate.
Editor's Note: AFA Action is an affiliate of the American Family Association, the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
