The office was dissolved in 2023 under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is set to reestablish a civil rights division focused on religious liberty and conscience protections that was initially created during President Donald Trump’s first administration.
The move, announced May 18, restructures HHS’ Office of Civil Rights (OCR) with three divisions: the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, the Civil Rights Division, and the Health Information Privacy, Data, and Cybersecurity Division.
“This reorganization … strengthens the [OCR’s] ability to defend religious liberty, enforce conscience protections, and combat unlawful discrimination,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, HHS will defend these rights with clarity, accountability, and resolve,” he said.
During Trump’s first administration in 2018, HHS established the office, but it was dissolved in 2023 under former President Joe Biden’s administration. According to an HHS news release, the restoration is meant to ensure HHS can better prioritize religious freedom and conscience rights enforcement.
According to the news release, the restoration is meant to build on Trump’s stated effort to eradicate “anti-Christian bias.”
On April 30, the Department of Justice issued a report on eradicating
