Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that disqualifying a nominee to Federal office on the basis of membership in the Knights of Columbus violates the Constitution of the United States
Policy area: Congress

Summary:
This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that disqualifying a nominee to federal office on the basis of membership in the Knights of Columbus violates Article VI of the Constitution. The article establishes that Members of Congress and others "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."

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 19 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 19

  Expressing the sense of the Senate that disqualifying a nominee to 
 Federal office on the basis of membership in the Knights of Columbus 
            violates the Constitution of the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 16, 2019

Mr. Sasse submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 
                               agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Senate that disqualifying a nominee to 
 Federal office on the basis of membership in the Knights of Columbus 
            violates the Constitution of the United States.

Whereas, throughout the history of the United States, the religious liberty 
        protected by both the First Amendment and the No Religious Test Clause 
        of the Constitution of the United States has been at the heart of the 
        American experiment;
Whereas, in 1960, the presidential candidacy of John F. Kennedy was met with 
        significant anti-Catholic bigotry;
Whereas then Senator Kennedy responded to the bigotry with these timeless words: 
        ``For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of 
        suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be 
        again, a Jew or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. . . . Today I may 
        be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you, until the whole fabric of our 
        harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.'';
Whereas the Knights of Columbus (in this preamble referred to as the 
        ``Knights'') constitute the largest Catholic fraternal service 
        organization in the world;
Whereas the Knights have a proud tradition of standing against the forces of 
        prejudice and oppression, such as the Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Germany;
Whereas the Knights are founded on the principles of charity, unity, fraternity, 
        and patriotism; and
Whereas, in 2017, the Knights made more than $185,000,000 in charitable 
        contributions and volunteered more than 75,600,000 service hours: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that disqualifying a 
nominee to Federal office on the basis of membership in the Knights of 
Columbus violates clause 3 of article VI of the Constitution of the 
United States, which establishes that Senators ``shall be bound by Oath 
or Affirmation, to support th[e] Constitution'' and ``no religious Test 
shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust 
under the United States''.
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