[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 16, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S277-S278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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     SENATE RESOLUTION 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

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

                               S. Res. 19

       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;

[[Page S278]]

       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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