Executive Order 14291 explained · Executive Order · No disposition noted
Establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission
Signed: 2025-05-01 Published: 2025-05-07 Federal Register document: 2025-08134
Agencies: Executive Office of the President
Federal Register notes (as of 2026-10-19): See: EO 13798, May 4, 2017 Continued by: EO 14354, September 29, 2025
What Executive Order 14291 says
Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 87 (Wednesday, May 7, 2025) [Federal Register Volume 90, Number 87 (Wednesday, May 7, 2025)] [Presidential Documents] [Pages 19417-19419] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 2025-08134] Presidential Documents Federal Register / Vol. 90, No. 87 / Wednesday, May 7, 2025 / Presidential Documents [[Page 19417]] Executive Order 14291 of May 1, 2025 Establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose and Policy. It shall be the policy of the executive branch to vigorously enforce the historic and robust protections for religious liberty enshrined in Federal law. The Founders envisioned a Nation in which religious voices and views are integral to a vibrant public square and human flourishing and in which religious people and institutions are free to practice their faith without fear of discrimination or hostility from the Government. Indeed, the roots of religious liberty stretch back to the early settlers who fled religious persecution in Europe, seeking a new world where they could choose, follow, and practice their faith without interference from the Government. The principle of religious liberty was enshrined in American law with the First...
Opening of the official text; read it in full in the Federal Register.
Constitution Index
“VFA Constitution grade”
Constitutionally sound
Graded 2026-10-08
SI-generated grade · five published checks · not individually reviewed by a person · methodology
Advisory commission with fixed term that studies and reports on First Amendment religious liberty and recommends executive or legislative steps, imposing no mandate, penalty, taking, or speech restriction.
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✓ Passes · Enumerated powers
The President acts under Article II, Section 1 vesting of executive power and Article II, Section 3 duty to take care that laws be faithfully executed. Establishing a temporary advisory commission to report on enforcement of existing First Amendment and federal statutory religious-liberty protections is within executive supervision, not legislation. No new regulatory or spending power beyond suppo… -
✓ Passes · Bill of Rights
The Order creates no restriction on speech, religion, assembly, press, arms, search, trial, or punishment. It directs study and advice to strengthen enforcement of existing First Amendment free exercise and establishment protections. It orders no surveillance, no mandate, no penalty, and no exclusion of any religion, citing First Amendment religious liberty as its basis. -
✓ Passes · Individual sovereignty
The Order restricts no personal conduct, belief, labor, property use, or speech. Service is voluntary and uncompensated, and topics listed concern protecting voluntary prayer, parental choice in education, conscience, and worship from government hostility. The burden test is satisfied because government imposes no burden; it studies how to reduce existing burdens. -
✓ Passes · Decentralization
The Commission is temporary, advisory, and report-oriented under Article II, Section 1 executive authority. It transfers no decision power from individuals, local communities, or states to Washington, creates no regulation or preemption, and leaves implementation to existing executive and legislative processes. Term ending July 4, 2026 further limits centralization risk under the Tenth Amendment. -
✓ Passes · Due process and takings
No person is deprived of life, liberty, or property, no hearing is bypassed, no presumption of innocence is altered, and no property is taken. Under Fifth Amendment due process and takings analysis there is no deprivation or taking to justify, and no compensation owed.
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