Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has faced multiple lawsuits for allegedly infringing on religious liberty during his time as Minnesota governor.
Walz encountered legal challenges for lockdown policies that religious organizations argued were discriminatory, placing stricter requirements on churches than businesses. He also encountered pushback after signing a law that stripped faith-based schools of funding for a program that offers free college credits to high school students.
Walz determined in a May 13, 2020, executive order that retailers would be allowed to reopen at 50% capacity, but left religious gatherings capped at ten people. After Catholic and Lutheran churches in the state announced plans to resume meeting in-person regardless of the governor’s order, he negotiated to allow religious groups to operate at 25% capacity, according to the Star Tribune.
Two churches nevertheless moved forward with their lawsuit over discriminatory treatment. Walz settled in May 2021 after the state’s motion to dismiss was denied, agreeing to treat religious gatherings the same as “the least restricted secular business regulated by the order.”
Three churches backed by the Thomas More Society also filed a lawsuit in August 2020 arguing Walz violated their religious liberties by mandating masks, limiting capacity and requiring social distancing.
“Governor Walz, a former teacher, gets an F in religious liberties,” Thomas More Society special counsel Erick Kaardal said in a press release at the time.
BREAKING: The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis will NOT comply with the new guidance from Governor Walz that only allows 10 people inside or outside churches. A letter to parishes across the state is signed by Archbishop Hebda and all six bishops in the state. https://t.co/PyzFIorMed
— Tom Hauser (@thauserkstp) May 20, 2020
The Minnesota Supreme Court upheld in May Walz’s declaration of a peacetime emergency in response to COVID-19, according to the Upper Midwest Law Center. (RELATED: Harris VP Pick Greenlit Law Allowing State To Take Child Custody From Parents Who Oppose Sex-Change Surgeries)
Walz also faced a lawsuit in May 2023 after he signed a law barring schools that require students to affirm a statement of faith from receiving funding from Minnesota’s Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program, which allows high school students to earn free college credits. Minnesota agreed not to enforce the law while the lawsuit is ongoing.
Becket senior counsel Diana Thomson called the state’s decision to exclude faith-based schools “patently anti-religious.”
Walz did sign legislation clarifying religious exemptions to the Minnesota Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on categories like race, religion, sex and sexual orientation, in May. Republicans pushed for the bill after the state Legislature added “gender identity” as a protected class but did not add a religious exemption, according to the Minnesota Reformer.
In April 2023, Walz signed a bill into law that banned “conversion therapy,” defined as any practice that seeks to “change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity,” for clients under 18. At the same time, he signed a bill to make Minnesota a “trans refuge” state, which allows the state court to assume “temporary emergency jurisdiction” if a child has “been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care.”
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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