The Associated Press is reporting what I first reported here last night: that President Obama, in signing an executive order forming his Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Office, will not, as promised in his campaign, rescind the Bush-era policy allowing recipients of federal money to engage in discriminatory employment practices. Instead, he will delay resolving the question pending a legal review. The Bush policy permits recipients of federal money under the faith-based initiative to discriminate against employees or prospective employees based on their religion or sexual orientation. During his campaign, Obama pledged that, as a constitutional lawyer, he understood the Bush policy, to be contrary to the Constitution and would reverse it.
--Sarah Posner
