For Immediate Release | July 9, 2026
Christian Employers Alliance Defends President’s Authority to End Unlawful EEOC Mandates
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Christian Employers Alliance (CEA), represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), continues its legal efforts to protect Christian employers from unlawful federal employment mandates by celebrating the dismissal of Samuels v. Trump, a case that could influence whether the EEOC once again imposes abortion and gender-identity mandates on faith-based employers.
The case stems from former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Commissioner Jocelyn Samuels’ demand for reinstatement after President Donald Trump removed her from office following executive actions directing the reversal of federal gender-identity policies. While serving on the EEOC, Samuels voted to advance regulations that CEA has challenged as exceeding the agency’s statutory authority and violating the religious liberty rights of Christian employers.
CEA moved to intervene in the case, and filed a proposed brief urging the court to dismiss the lawsuit, alongside Choices Pregnancy Centers of Greater Phoenix to defend the constitutional authority of the President to direct executive branch policy and remove executive officials who refuse to faithfully carry out that policy.
“This case is about far more than one federal official,” said Margaret Iuculano, President of Christian Employers Alliance. “It is about whether unelected bureaucrats can continue imposing policies that Congress never enacted and that violate the constitutional and religious freedoms of Christian employers across America.”
Why This Case Matters to Christian Employers
For Christian employers, the outcome of Samuels v. Trump could influence whether the EEOC will revive regulatory mandates requiring employers to facilitate abortion accommodations, gender-transition procedures, preferred pronoun policies, and access to private facilities based on gender identity — even when doing so conflicts with sincerely held religious beliefs.
CEA filed briefs in the case so that the voices of faith-based employers are represented before the court. Christian business owners should not have to relitigate the same unlawful mandates when the president directed that they be repealed. Employers deserve regulatory certainty grounded in the Constitution, federal law, and the protections guaranteed under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — rather than policies that courts allow commissioners to impose contrary to the president’s directives.
For years, CEA has challenged EEOC regulations that attempted to redefine federal employment law by imposing new obligations never enacted by Congress. These mandates threatened employers with government enforcement for operating their businesses according to biblical convictions.
CEA has successfully secured significant legal protections for Christian employers, including:
- A permanent federal injunction protecting CEA members from the Affordable Care Act contraceptive mandate.
- A federal court injunction preventing enforcement of EEOC requirements that CEA members pay for and provide gender-transition procedures.
- Temporary protection from the EEOC preventing enforcement of additional abortion and gender-identity requirements against CEA members while the agency reconsiders its regulations during CEA’s pending lawsuit.
“Christian employers should not have to defend their constitutional freedoms when the president ordered that they be protected,” Iuculano said. “The Constitution gives the President authority to ensure executive agencies faithfully execute the laws enacted by Congress — not rewrite them according to political ideology. When unelected regulators exceed that authority, employers, ministries, and faith-based organizations pay the price.”
CEA believes allowing former EEOC leadership to return could revive policies that burden employers seeking to operate their businesses consistent with biblical convictions and undermine the constitutional separation of powers.
“This case represents another important step in restoring accountability to the administrative state,” Iuculano added. “Government agencies exist to enforce the law, not to create new rights or obligations that Congress never approved. Christian employers deserve stable, constitutional protections that allow them to live out their faith while serving their employees and communities.”
The case also reinforces a broader constitutional principle: executive agencies are accountable to the President and must faithfully execute the laws enacted by Congress. Allowing independent agency officials to pursue policy agendas contrary to the elected administration risks expanding bureaucratic power beyond constitutional limits and undermining democratic accountability.
Through its Five Freedoms Framework, CEA continues to advance policies protecting religious liberty, workforce freedom, healthcare freedom, operational freedom, and economic freedom for Christian employers nationwide.
Margaret Iuculano (president@joinceanow.org) is the president of the Christian Employers Alliance, promoting policies that support religious freedom and biblical principles in the workplace.
About Christian Employers Alliance The Christian Employers Alliance is the nation’s leading organization defending the constitutional rights of Christian employers. Through strategic litigation, government relations, policy advocacy, and the Biblical Business Index, CEA equips employers to operate their businesses according to biblical principles while advancing religious liberty, free enterprise, and the rule of law.
CEA members benefit from federal court protections against unlawful abortion, contraceptive, and gender-identity mandates, allowing them to focus on serving their employees, customers, and communities without compromising their faith.
For more information about Christian Employers Alliance, visit joinceanow.org. Follow CEA on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn.