Robert P. George Appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is pleased to announce that Princeton University political philosopher, constitutional scholar, and Becket Fund Board of Directors member, Robert P. George has been appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Washington, DC – Becket Law is pleased to announce that Princeton University political philosopher, constitutional scholar, and Becket Board of Directors member, Robert P. George has been appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The appointment was made by Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner on March 22, 2012.

The USCIRF was created by Congress as part of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 and reauthorized by Congress in 2011. The nine members of the independent, bipartisan advisory body are appointed by the President of the United States and the leaders of both parties in the House and Senate.

The Commission’s principal responsibilities are to review violations of religious freedom internationally and make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress on actions that should be taken to advance greater protection for this fundamental human right. Becket’s Director of International and Government Relations responded to the announcements, stating “Professor George’s expertise in America’s philosophical basis for and historic commitment to religious freedom will re-invigorate the Commission’s founding purpose.”

Robert George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton. He has previously served as a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics and the United States Commission on Civil Rights. He has also served on UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST).

He is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles, and has also written for journals of opinion from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal to First Things and the Boston Review.

A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School, Professor George also earned a master’s degree in theology from Harvard and a doctorate in philosophy of law fromOxfordUniversity. He holds honorary doctorates of law, letters, science, ethics, humane letters, civil law, and juridical science.

He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a recipient of the United States Presidential Citizens Medal and the Honorific Medal for the Defense of Human Rights of the Republic of Poland.

For more information or to arrange an interview with a Becket attorney, please contact Melinda Skea at  media@becketlaw.org  or 202-349-7224. Interviews can be arranged in English, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

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Becket Law is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions. For over 20 years, it has defended clients of all faiths, including Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Native Americans, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians (read more).