Attorney General William P. Barr spoke at the University of Notre Dame Friday afternoon about religious liberty.

The event was sponsored by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame and the Notre Dame Law School.

"I'd like to share some thoughts with you about religious liberty in America. It's an important priority in this administration and for this Department of Justice. We've set up a task force within the department in which all the various components that have equities in this area are all represented. And we have regular meetings and keep an eye out for cases or events around the country where states are misapplying the establishment clause in a way that discriminates against people of faith or cases where states adopt laws that impinge upon the free exercise of religion," Barr said. "From the founding era onward, there was a strong consensus about the centrality of religious liberty in the United States. The imperative of protecting religious freedom was not just a nod in the direction of piety. It reflects the framer's belief that religion was indispensable to sustaining our free system of government."