by Jayla Ward • 3 minutes
On Wednesday, December 10, the President’s Religious Liberty Commission will hold its fourth hearing. The Commission will turn its focus to religious freedom issues in our military and hear the perspectives of service members, chaplains and veterans.
The hearing will be held at the historic Debate Chamber in Dallas, Texas. The session will be livestreamed at 8:30 a.m. CST and is expected to last until 1:30 p.m. You can watch it on the Department of Justice website.
First Liberty President and CEO Kelly Shackelford serves as one of the Commissioners. He represents the only nonprofit religious liberty legal organization of its kind on the Commission.
The hearing’s objective will be to understand the historic landscape of religious liberty in the military, recognize present threats to religious liberty in military contexts, and identify opportunities to strengthen religious freedom for all service members for the future.
First Liberty attorneys and clients will testify and share their stories. The Commission will hear from:
Mike Berry serves as Executive Director of External Affairs and Senior Counsel at First Liberty. With decades of experience as an attorney, Mike is recognized as one of America’s foremost legal minds on religious liberty and the rights of service members. He will be testifying as an expert witness, providing insights into the current state and challenges to religious freedom in our armed forces.
Mike served for seven years as an attorney with the U.S. Marine Corps, leaving active duty in 2013. Among his numerous positions within the Marine Corps, Mike deployed to Afghanistan in 2008, and he served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the United States Naval Academy. Mike continues to proudly serve our nation as a member of the Marine Corps Reserve.
First Liberty client Kenny Vaughan is the founder of Shields of Strength, a faith-based company that graciously provides replica military dog tags with inspirational Bible verses to active-duty service members, veterans and their families. Over 25 years they’ve donated more than two-million tags to our military community.
After an anti-religious group filed a complaint against the company, the Department of Defense imposed an illegal prohibition on Shields producing and distributing its dog tags. After years of fighting in federal court, First Liberty reached a settlement this year, a victory that allows Shields of Strength to once again manufacture the popular dog tags that bring inspiration to thousands of troops.
David Barton, founder of WallBuilders, is a longtime friend and client of First Liberty. WallBuilders is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving our country’s forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on the moral, religious and constitutional foundation on which America was built.
First Liberty is representing WallBuilders in federal court. Washington, D.C.’s transit authority said WallBuilders was not allowed to run religious-themed advertisements on city buses and other public areas. We secured an important first win for WallBuilders, allowing them to temporarily run their ads across metro stations in our nation’s capital. The case, however, continues to be litigated in court.
With a 30-year legacy of defending religious liberty for all Americans, First Liberty continues to provide institutional support and strategic counsel to the Commission.
Committed to constitutional originalism and backed by landmark legal victories—including nine wins at the U.S. Supreme Court—First Liberty brings a uniquely qualified perspective. Our expertise—combined with the powerful testimony of our clients—is helping shape the Commission’s work with real-world insights, tested legal strategies and a principled defense of our founding freedoms.
The next hearings are set for 2026. Venue details are yet to be announced. We’ll keep you updated, or you can visit the Dept. of Justice website for more information.
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