REP. JAMIE RASKIN

“As my GOP colleagues try to block the Respect for Marriage Act," tweeted Raskin, "I remind them what we taught anti-gay politicians a decade ago: you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You didn’t place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.”

Congressman Jamie Raskin is the U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District. He serves as the Ranking Member on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. He served as the Lead House Manager in the second Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, which ended with a 57-43 vote to convict the president for inciting a violent insurrection against the government to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. Raskin also served on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and served three terms on the House Judiciary, Oversight and Administration Committees. He served two terms on the Rules Committee. Prior to Congress, Raskin was a three-term State Senator in Maryland and a professor of constitutional law for more than a quarter-century at American University Washington College of Law. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he served as an Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He has authored several books, including We the Students, the Washington Post best-seller Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court versus the American People, and the New York Times number #1 best-seller Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth and the Trials of American Democracy (2022).

DR. ANTHEA BUTLER

Anthea Butler is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She is a historian of African-American and American religion and is an expert on the threat of Christian Nationalism. Professor Butler’s research and writing spans African American religion and history, race, politics, Evangelicalism, gender and sexuality, media, and popular culture.

Butler is also a commentator for MSNBC and in a recent column, warned about politicians who claim to be running with God’s sanction.

“When you hear candidates say they have been chosen by God, beware,” Butler wrote. “That hubris is hiding an authoritarian political worldview based on their limited view of God instead of the belief that the U.S. Constitution, or other guiding documents, should be their guide.”

​Butler’s most recent book is White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America. Learn more about her at Antheabutler.com.

ERIN REED

Erin Reed (she/her) is a transgender journalist based in Washington, D.C. She tracks LGBTQ+ legislation around the United States for her subscription newsletter, ErinInTheMorning.com. Her work has been cited by the Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many more major media outlets. You can follow her on Twitter and TikTok @ErinInTheMorn.

See you i​n April.