Mormon Scholars Take Their Brief Against Trump to the U.S. Supreme Court
Earlier today, a group of 21 scholars of Mormon history filed a brief in the United States Supreme Court attacking President Trump’s ban on refugees and immigrants from six Muslim countries. The brief tells the story of government attacks on Mormon immigration in the 19th century. This history, it urges, shows the need for exacting scrutiny of the order. During the 19th century government officials repeatedly attacked the Mormons because of their religion. During the 1880s, federal officials explicitly targeted Mormon immigrants. In some cases, Latter-day Saints were refused entry to the country, in others they were jailed by government officials at the border, and at times federal officials pressured Mormon immigrants to abandon their religion and convert to Protestantism. According to Kathleen Flake, Richard Lyman Bushman Professor of Mormon Studies at the University of Virginia, "While some know that American Mormons were persecuted, few know that Mormon immigrants we