by Jorge Gomez • 5 minutes
Shortly after taking the oath of office on Monday, President Trump signed a multitude of executive orders repealing the Biden administration’s promotion of radical gender ideology, ending the weaponization of government against religious and pro-life Americans, and safeguarding free speech.
First Liberty President & CEO Kelly Shackelford discusses how these actions will help protect people of faith and the free exercise of religion. Watch below
Five Major Executive Orders That Will Impact Religious Liberty
1. Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship – This order affirms that the policy of the United States is to protect free speech. The order calls for an end to the censorship of protected speech, which includes religious viewpoints. It directs the Attorney General to investigate and report on the activities of the Biden administration that may have violated Americans’ free speech and make recommendations for appropriate actions to correct those violations.
This executive order impacts several First Liberty cases. A change in the government’s position on censorship and religious expression is good news for our client Shields of Strength. The faith-based company was told to stop distributing its dog tags containing Scripture and military insignia due to a misguided policy adopted by the Department of Defense.
The order also helps Jace Yarbrough, whose military career in the Air Force Reserve is in jeopardy. He’s being punished by officials for a speech he gave as a civilian at a private retirement ceremony.
Last May, the House Judiciary Committee published a report detailing how the Biden White House coerced “large companies, namely Facebook, Google, and Amazon, to censor books, videos, posts, and other content online.” Big Tech targeted conservative users and religious messages for censorship, selectively invoking vague policies against “hate” and “misinformation” to stunt the free flow of information. Faith-based organizations and individuals routinely had their content removed or shadow banned.
First Liberty has been at the forefront of the legal fight to ensure religious voices are treated equally online. We filed a friend-of-the-court brief at the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Babylon Bee, a satire site, as well as its sibling, Not the Bee, a Christian news website. Both sites were hit hard by online censorship.
Meanwhile, Meta—the parent company of Facebook and Instagram—recently announced that it will end its controversial fact-checking program and move toward policies more focused on free speech.
2. Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government – This order says that the Biden administration weaponized legal forces against “perceived political opponents,” including parents speaking out at school board meetings. The order directs the Attorney General to investigate and report on any Biden administration actions that may have constituted weaponization of the federal government and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct.
Pam Bondi—President Trump’s nominee for U.S. Attorney General—also pledged to end the weaponization of the Justice Department, which the Biden administration used to target religious Americans.
“That is the whole problem…the weaponization that we’ve seen over the last four years,” Bondi said during her Senate confirmation hearing. “That will not be the case if I am Attorney General. I will not politicize that office. Justice will be administered evenhandedly throughout this country.”
Evidence abounds showing that Biden’s DOJ repeatedly went after people of faith. A congressional report released in 2023 confirmed that the FBI—an agency of the DOJ—spied on American Catholics.
3. Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth To The Federal Government – This order says the Trump Administration “will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience” by affirming that “women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.” The order says, “It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female” and “‘Sex’…does not include the concept of ‘gender identity.’” The order calls for a large number of guidance documents to be rescinded.
This policy should help Americans who are targeted for expressing views consistent their religious beliefs about human sexuality. A Rasmussen survey found 71% of U.S. adults agree “there are two genders, male and female.” According to the Public Religion Research Institute, most religious Americans say there are only two genders.
First Liberty secured a legal victory for Dr. Johnson Varkey, a biology professor who was fired for teaching that sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes, consistent with his study of human biology and his religious beliefs. St. Philip’s College in San Antonio agreed to reinstate Dr. Varkey to his teaching position.
4. Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing – This order calls for the termination of “all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government.”
First Liberty attorneys have explained that that DEI policies are anything but equitable or inclusive. The same agenda that promises to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in all spaces has led to the exclusion, alienation and even the “canceling” of people of faith. These policies advance an agenda to excommunicate certain “privileged” classes of citizens, include religious employees, if they do not openly affirm compliance with and commitment to viewpoints that violate their sincerely held beliefs.
Right now, our legal team is fighting in federal appeals court on behalf of Valerie Kloosterman, a physician assistant who was fired because of her religious beliefs. The University of Michigan Health System required her to affirm statements about gender identity that conflicted with her Christian faith.
We’re fighting a similar case on behalf of two former Alaska Airlines flight attendants who were fired for posting concerns on an internal company website about the “Equality Act” and its impact on women and people of faith.
“Alaska Airlines’ obsessive focus on DEI created a hostile work environment for anyone who dares to disagree with the company’s political agenda,” said First Liberty Senior Counsel Stephanie Taub. “Their decision to fire our clients is a blatant violation of state and federal civil rights laws to discriminate against someone in the workplace because of their religious beliefs and expression.”
5. Executive Order Rescinding Biden’s Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States – This order officially ends the Biden administration’s commission to recommend “reforms” to the Supreme Court.
The Biden administration, the far Left and many politicians launched a full-scale attack on the Supreme Court. They poured in millions of dollars and did everything in their power to wrest control of the nation’s highest court. They embraced court-packing and endorsed some of the most radical and sweeping changes to our judicial system. The Supreme Court Commission was rigged from the very beginning. It was overwhelmingly comprised of Left-leaning commissioners. The prior administration established it not to determine if reforms were needed, but rather how they were going to change the court for their gain.
First Liberty led a national campaign to educate Americans about the dangers of court-packing, ending judicial life tenure and other extreme “reform” proposals. We exposed court “reform” for what it was: a brazen power grab. We sent the message to the whole country that court-packing is a threat to the rule of law and judicial independence. So-called “reforms” would inevitably lead to the erosion of religious liberty and other constitutional freedoms.
Thanks to our efforts, the American people made it clear that the last thing they want is a Supreme Court Coup. They overwhelmingly rejected the idea of expanding the Court. Polling commissioned by First Liberty in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 consistently showed that most Americans reject proposals to change the U.S. Supreme Court. A remarkable 87% said an independent judiciary is a crucial safeguard of our rights and freedoms.
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