[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 70 (Saturday, April 20, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E377-E378]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING MAGGIE GARRETT FOR HER YEARS OF SERVICE AT AMERICANS UNITED 
                   FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

                                 ______
                                 

                     HON. ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Saturday, April 20, 2024

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and 
recognize the work of Maggie Garrett, who recently left Americans 
United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United or AU) 
after leading AU's Public Policy Department and advocating for the 
separation of church and state for nearly 20 years. Maggie worked on 
church-state issues before state legislatures, Congress, and the 
Executive Branch, becoming a nationally recognized expert on religious 
liberty issues and how these issues intersect with other civil rights.
  Prior to joining Americans United, Maggie served as Legislative 
Director and Staff Counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union 
(ACLU) of Georgia, and as Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Alabama. During 
her time in Alabama and Georgia, Maggie litigated high-profile cases. 
At the ACLU of Georgia, she also lobbied the state legislature, working 
with legislators across the political spectrum to fight for policies 
that protect civil rights and civil liberties and improve the lives of 
all Georgians. She played a key role in educating legislators about the 
harms of a proposed state Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 
successfully working to ensure that the measure did not advance since 
it was drafted in a manner to deny civil rights protections in the name 
of religious liberty.
  In 2007, Maggie joined Americans United as Assistant Legislative 
Director and remained at AU for almost 17 years, achieving the position 
of Vice-President for Public Policy. In her role at AU, Maggie worked 
tirelessly to ensure that religious freedom is not misused to license 
invidious discrimination. Maggie led the work of the Coalition Against 
Religious Discrimination (CARD)--a diverse set of stakeholder groups 
she brought together from religious, religious freedom, civil rights, 
labor, reproductive rights and health, LGBTQ rights, and secular 
organizations--to oppose taxpayer-funded religious discrimination in 
social service programs. Maggie's leadership of CARD, together with her 
expertise, helped ensure that the religious freedom of people who use 
taxpayer-funded social services is protected and that these programs 
include safeguards for the separation of church and state.
  Also, as part of her work at AU, Maggie co-chaired the National 
Coalition for Public Education (NCPE), a group of more than 50 national 
organizations working to oppose private school vouchers. Maggie has 
long been a champion of public education and fought to ensure that 
public funds remain in our public schools to be used for the education 
of all students.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to extend my thanks and appreciation to Maggie 
for her years of service to the cause for separation of church and 
state and to protecting civil rights. Her decades of expertise were 
invaluable to me and my staff. Our Founding Fathers knew from personal 
experience the dangers of governmental entanglement with religion, 
leading them to enshrine religious freedom in the First Amendment of 
our Constitution. In fact, Thomas Jefferson warned against such excess 
in the Virginia Assembly in 1779, with the introduction of the Virginia 
Statute for Religious Freedom which would serve as the nation's 
precursor to the First Amendment; he cautioned that, ``our civil rights 
have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our 
opinions on physics and geometry.'' Maggie's work carried on that 
tradition. For over two decades, Maggie fought to uphold

[[Page E378]]

the separation of church and state, a foundational principle that is 
the cornerstone of true religious freedom.
  I wish her the best in her next role as Vice-President of Federal 
Affairs with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Animals, where she will follow her other passion, advocating for the 
humane treatment of animals, inspired by her beloved rescue dogs 
Atticus and Finn.

                          ____________________