House Hearings On "Public Expression Of Religion Act"

Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution held hearings on H.R. 2679, the Public Expression of Religion Act. The bill provides that in suits claiming that state and local officials have violated the Establishment Clause claims, courts may only grant injunctions and not award either damages or attorneys fees. Here is the full text of the testimony of the four witnesses who appeared before the panel. Wall of Separation blog summarizes the testimony of the 3 witnesses favoring the bill and the one against, and links to a letter from Americans United opposing the bill. The witnesses favoring the bill argued that federal law on separation of church and state is so confusing that lawsuits seeking to uphold the principle should be discouraged. Rep. John Hostettler of Indiana who introduced the bill argued that the ACLU was using the threat of recovering attorneys' fees to intimidate public schools and other government entities.