The Hill News

When Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, one of their first acts was to read the Constitution aloud. I thought that was a valuable and important exercise to remind all Members of the words in our nation’s guiding document. On January 6, my friend and colleague Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) took the floor and said: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

That reading of the First Amendment sits in striking contrast to the hearing House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King (R-NY) conducted yesterday. The title of the hearing was the “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community’s Response,” but what’s truly radical is using Committee time and resources to profile and demonize an entire community of people based on their faith.

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