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First Amendment Defense Act
First Amendment Defense Act
S.L.C.
114TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
S. ll
To ensure that the Federal Government shall not take any discriminatory
action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such
person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held
religious belief or moral conviction 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, and for other purposes.
A BILL
To ensure that the Federal Government shall not take any
discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person believes, speaks,
or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious
belief or moral conviction 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, and for other purposes.
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3 fense Act.
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
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issue.
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States.
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conform.
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SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF THE FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND MORAL CONVICTIONS.
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in subsection (a);
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such person;
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such person; or
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8 The Federal Government shall consider accredited, li9 censed, or certified for purposes of Federal law any person
10 that would be accredited, licensed, or certified, respec11 tively, for such purposes but for a determination against
12 such person wholly or partially on the basis that the per13 son believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with the sin14 cerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions described
15 in subsection (a).
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(a) CAUSE
OF
18 tual or threatened violation of this Act as a claim or de19 fense in a judicial or administrative proceeding and obtain
20 compensatory damages, injunctive relief, declaratory re21 lief, or any other appropriate relief against the Federal
22 Government. Standing to assert a claim or defense under
23 this section shall be governed by the general rules of
24 standing under Article III of the Constitution.
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8 vised Statutes (42 U.S.C. 1988(b)) is amended by insert9 ing the First Amendment Defense Act, after the Reli10 gious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of
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(d) AUTHORITY
OF
UNITED STATES
TO
ENFORCE
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STRUCTION.Nothing
OR
NARROW CON-
15 any application of such provision to any person or cir16 cumstance is held to be unconstitutional, the remainder
17 of this Act and the application of the provision to any
18 other person or circumstance shall not be affected.
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SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
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In this Act:
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(1) FEDERAL
BENEFIT PROGRAM.The
term
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Code.
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(2) FEDERAL;
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.The
clude
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