Executive Order 13798: Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty
President: Donald J. Trump
Directed agencies to review policies affecting religious expression and protected speech, including guidance on charitable and political activity.
Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13798 still in effect? Yes. EO 13798 remains in effect; the May 1, 2025 Religious Liberty Commission order expressly referenced its guidance work. Later rules and court rulings must be assessed separately.
What does Executive Order 13798 do?
EO 13798 set an executive-branch policy of protecting religious exercise and religious or political speech within existing federal law. Trump directed all agencies to respect those freedoms to the greatest extent practicable and legally permitted. Its specific assignments addressed Treasury enforcement affecting religious organizations, possible conscience protections in health-insurance regulation and Attorney General guidance on federal religious-liberty protections. Signed order.
The Treasury instruction was carefully qualified. Religious speech on moral or political questions was not to trigger adverse tax action where speech of similar character had not ordinarily been treated, consistently with law, as election-campaign participation or intervention. The order did not repeal the Internal Revenue Code's restrictions on campaign intervention by section 501(c)(3) organizations. Separately, Treasury, Labor and HHS were to consider amending preventive-care regulations to address conscience-based objections; this was a direction to consider lawful regulations rather than an immediate blanket exemption for every health plan. Signed order.
Before and after
Before the order
Religious organizations remained subject to tax, benefits and other federal laws. EO 13798 added a presidential enforcement policy, regulatory-review assignment and government-wide interpretive guidance. It did not amend Congress's statutes or declare every disputed action against a religious claimant unlawful without analyzing the applicable legal protection. Signed order.
After the order
On October 6, 2017, Attorney General Sessions issued a memorandum setting out twenty religious-liberty principles for executive agencies. The health-benefit rules that followed became the subject of litigation. On July 8, 2020, the Supreme Court in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania held that the departments had statutory authority to issue the religious and moral exemptions at issue and that they had satisfied the procedural requirements considered by the Court. The May 1, 2025 Religious Liberty Commission order expressly cited EO 13798 and its 2017 guidance as part of the earlier policy history. Signed order. Sources: DOJ October 6, 2017 guidance announcement; Published Attorney General guidance; Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania; 2025 Religious Liberty Commission order.
Who had to do what
| Agency / office | Action | Timing / position |
|---|---|---|
| All executive agencies | Respect religious and political speech and enforce lawful religious-liberty protections. | Ongoing; to greatest extent practicable and permitted by law. |
| Treasury Secretary | Avoid specified adverse tax action over religious-perspective speech when comparable lawful speech was not ordinarily campaign intervention; consider preventive-care amendments. | Ongoing enforcement; no fixed regulatory deadline. |
| Labor Secretary | Consider amended preventive-care mandate regulations addressing conscience objections. | As legally appropriate; no fixed deadline. |
| Health and Human Services Secretary | Consider amended preventive-care regulations addressing conscience objections. | As legally appropriate; no fixed deadline. |
| Attorney General | Issue guidance interpreting federal religious-liberty protections for executive agencies. | As appropriate; no fixed deadline in order. |
What happened next
Trump signed EO 13798. Official source
The Attorney General issued federal religious-liberty guidance pursuant to section 4. Official source
The Supreme Court upheld the departments' authority and relevant procedure for the exemptions in Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania. Official source
The Religious Liberty Commission order cited EO 13798 and the guidance it produced. Official source
Legal and source detail
Sources by type
The executive order invoked the Constitution and applicable laws generally. Its health-care assignment referred specifically to the preventive-services requirement at 42 U.S.C. 300gg-13(a)(4), and its tax instruction remained constrained by lawful interpretation of 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3). Religious Freedom Restoration Act protections and the First Amendment can limit federal burdens on religion, but EO 13798 did not itself resolve all statutory or constitutional disputes. A proposed or final exemption still needed agency authority, an adequate explanation and legally required procedure. The Little Sisters decision concerned particular regulations, not a ruling that every application of this order was valid or invalid. Its severability clause protected remaining provisions if one application failed, and section 6 created no privately enforceable right. Existing editorial uncertainty about a particular later disposition should not be replaced by an unsupported assertion of revocation, while the 2025 commission reference supplies additional official context. Signed order. Sources: DOJ October 6, 2017 guidance announcement; Published Attorney General guidance; Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania; 2025 Religious Liberty Commission order.
Primary and official sources
How we checked this
Last checked against the sources above on September 15, 2026. How we research →
EO 13798 instructed executive agencies to respect religious liberty and review regulations that could burden speech or religious exercise. It directed Treasury to follow specified enforcement policy on political speech by religious organizations and asked Treasury, Labor and Health and Human Services to consider related regulatory changes; the cited records do not establish its later disposition.
The order set an enforcement policy for certain political speech by religious organizations and directed agencies to consider regulatory changes. The cited records do not establish its later disposition.