Today Is 30th Anniversary of RFRA

Today is the 30th anniversary of President Bill Clinton's signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (Public Law 103-141). In his Remarks on Signing the Bill (full text), the President said in part:

It is interesting to note ... what a broad coalition of Americans came together to make this bill a reality; ... that coalition produced a 97-to-3 vote in the United States Senate and a bill that had such broad support it was adopted on a voice vote in the House. I’m told that, as many of the people in the coalition worked together across ideological and religious lines, some new friendships were formed and some new trust was established, which shows, I suppose, that the power of God is such that even in the legislative process miracles can happen. [Laughter]

We all have a shared desire here to protect perhaps the most precious of all American liberties, religious freedom. Usually the signing of legislation by a President is a ministerial act, often a quiet ending to a turbulent legislative process. Today this event assumes a more majestic quality because of our ability together to affirm the historic role that people of faith have played in the history of this country and the constitutional protections those who profess and express their faith have always demanded and cherished.

1999 E-Mail Urged Clinton To Invoke Talmudic Law As Lewinsky Defense

The New York Post  reported yesterday that among the final 10,000 documents released by the Clinton presidential library on Friday was a 1999 e-mail-- that eventually found its way to White House adviser Sidney Blumenthal-- urging Clinton to rely on the Jewish law definition of adultery in defending against charges growing out of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The e-mail that originated with a Long Island woman, who sent on an analysis of Talmudic law developed by Dartmouth Jewish Studies professor Susannah Heschel, read in part:

According to classical Jewish law, President Clinton did not commit adultery; adultery is defined as a married man having intercourse with a married woman, and Monica Lewinsky is single,