Trump's week in review: Tulsi Gabbard resigns; Rededicate 250; another batch of UFO files released

2. HHS re-establishes its Conscience and Religious Freedom Division

In a statement Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the re-establishment of the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within the agency’s Office for Civil Rights.

Originally established in 2018 during the first Trump administration to ensure enforcement of laws protecting conscience and religious freedom, the division was dissolved by the Biden administration in 2023.

The Biden administration combined the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division and the then-Civil Rights Division into the Policy Division. This week’s restructuring of the Office for Civil Rights establishes a third subdivision: the Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division.

“This reorganization restores the HHS Civil Rights Division and the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division and strengthens the Office for Civil Rights’ ability to defend religious liberty, enforce conscience protections, and combat unlawful discrimination,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “Under President Trump’s leadership, HHS will defend these rights with clarity, accountability, and resolve.”

Office for Civil Rights Director Paula Stannard said the changes create “a structure that rightly prioritizes civil rights and conscience and religious freedom alongside health information privacy and security.”

Additional information about the changes will be published through a Federal Register notice next month.