“As Attorney General, I will always enforce the laws as written, which includes ensuring that the federal government can’t push whatever rule it wants and run roughshod over religious liberty,” said Attorney General Bailey. “It is absolutely ridiculous that unelected federal bureaucrats are attempting to subvert the law and force religious universities to house male and female students together. This is just yet another attempt by woke leftists to push their social agenda onto students. My office is not going to stand for it.”
The amicus brief filed by the attorneys general supports the petition of the College of the Ozarks, who contend that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) unlawfully promulgated a rule declaring that the Fair Housing Act prohibits schools from having dorms that are limited to a single biological sex.
General Bailey’s brief argues that HUD’s directive reflects an absence of “reasoned decision-making” because it completely fails to mention, let alone balance, the known interests of religious organizations and its new interpretation of the FHA. It thus fails to consider the serious religious liberty implications of the new rule.
Joining Missouri in filing the brief are Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia.