Democrats Test ‘No Religious Test’ Clause in Attacks on Trump Nominees

Democrats are attacking the religious faith of several of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees for senior positions, risking a confrontation with the Constitution, which prohibits the use of religious tests for public office.

Pete Hegseth, who is Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, has been criticized for his tattoos, one of which features a Jerusalem cross. Another includes a Crusader motto that, critics say, has been appropriated by far-right groups.

Meanwhile, former Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has been nominated to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, has been criticized by Democratic Senators specifically for his religious views about the Jews’ right to the Land of Israel.

Article VI, Clause 3 of the Constitution says (emphasis added):

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Democrats have run afoul of that clause in recent memory when questioning conservative judicial nominees.

They grilled several Catholic nominees about their religious beliefs, resulting in angry protests from the Republicans, especially in the case of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) later recalled at the Senate Judiciary Committee, during the confirmation hearing for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, “I am convinced whatever faith you have and how often you go to church will not affect your ability to be fair, and I just hope going into the future that we all can accept that, and the judge [Barrett], I felt, was treated very, very poorly.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.