Lawsuit against Trump's Religious Liberty Commission dismissed after requested documents released

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, July 28, 2026

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration’s Religious Liberty Commission by an interfaith coalition after the commission produced several requested documents.

In a statement Monday, Americans United for Separation of Church and State announced that a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed in February by the Interfaith Alliance, Muslims for Progressive Values, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund and Hindus for Human Rights alleging that the Religious Liberty Commission violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act by failing to disclose public documents and information related to the commission’s work. 

The dismissal of the case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York comes after the Trump administration posted transcripts, meeting minutes, witness testimonies, runs of show, hearing summaries and hearing recommendations on the U.S. Department of Justice’s website. 

The secular legal organization Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represented the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, had previously announced the publication of the requested documents in a May statement. 

Praising the publication of the documents as a “resounding concession by the government and a significant victory for the coalition that demonstrated the necessity of challenging the administration’s unlawful actions,” AU indicated Monday that “the commission agreed to make a draft report available for public comment and hold a public meeting to respond to issues raised by interested parties and members of the public.”

“Even before this decision, our litigation helped uncover the information the Trump-Vance administration attempted to hide from the public about this biased and unlawful body,” the coalition of plaintiffs asserted in a joint statement responding to the litigation’s conclusion.

“Religious liberty and pluralism are foundational American values, and we remain committed to fighting for a democracy that does not promote a single religious belief and ignores others.”

While the interfaith coalition had previously suggested that it would “continue to argue that the commission is illegally biased in favor of a single ‘Judeo-Christian’ viewpoint favored by President Trump,” the dismissal of the lawsuit signals the end of the use of litigation against the commission, at least for now. 

Trump established the Religious Liberty Commission in a May 2025 executive order, appointing 14 members who “offer diverse perspectives on how the Federal Government can defend religious liberty for all Americans” and tasking them with “recommending steps to secure domestic religious liberty by executive or legislative actions as well as identifying opportunities for the White House Faith Office to partner with the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom to further the cause of religious liberty around the world.” 

Members of the Religious Liberty Commission were authorized to serve until July 4, 2026, when the commission was scheduled to terminate. Late last month, the commission submitted a report to Trump documenting its findings on the state of religious liberty in the U.S. based on the seven hearings it held. 

“Far too often in our national life, religion is treated not as a protected and valued contribution to public life, but as a problem or annoyance to be managed, restricted, or sidelined,” the report lamented. “Among our conclusions, we believe that safeguarding religious liberty requires more than defending legal rights after they have been violated. It requires cultivating a culture that understands why those rights exist in the first place.” 

Recommendations outlined in the report included calls for the establishment of guidance clarifying the proper meaning of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the distribution of “Know Your Rights” posters explaining religious liberty protections, the creation of religious liberty hotlines at multiple Executive Branch agencies, the establishment of a religious liberty task force at the DOJ and the repeal of the Johnson Amendment that prohibits church leaders from making political endorsements.