{
  "schemaVersion": "1",
  "reviewedAt": "2026-10-06",
  "scope": "Selected official legal and policy records, not an exhaustive all-presidency comparison or composite ranking.",
  "evaluationAxes": [
    {
      "id": "constitutional-liberty",
      "number": "01",
      "title": "Liberal democracy & constitutional liberty",
      "question": "Did presidential power protect freedom and remain accountable?",
      "summary": "Examine individual liberty, due process, religious and political expression, separation of powers and lawful transfers of power.",
      "checks": [
        "Constitutional authority and limits",
        "Civil liberties and equal protection",
        "Checks, oversight and legal accountability"
      ],
      "href": "#constitutional-frame",
      "linkLabel": "Read the constitutional foundation"
    },
    {
      "id": "religious-liberty",
      "number": "02",
      "title": "Christian heritage & religious liberty",
      "question": "Could people practice their faith without government coercion?",
      "summary": "Examine Christian heritage, freedom of worship and conscience, and government treatment of religious institutions. The same protections and evidence questions apply to other faiths.",
      "checks": [
        "Freedom to worship and celebrate Christmas",
        "Religious conscience and institutional autonomy",
        "Government burdens and available legal remedies"
      ],
      "href": "#faith-and-freedom",
      "linkLabel": "Examine religious-liberty records"
    },
    {
      "id": "limited-government",
      "number": "03",
      "title": "Limited government & economic freedom",
      "question": "What happened to government size, burdens and individual choice?",
      "summary": "Trace spending, receipts, debt, regulation and documented institutional changes. Smaller government is an evaluation preference; announced cuts are not measured savings.",
      "checks": [
        "Spending and receipts as shares of GDP",
        "Debt, tax burdens and documented agency changes",
        "Legal limits, implementation and effects"
      ],
      "href": "/compare/federal-finances/",
      "linkLabel": "Compare federal finances"
    },
    {
      "id": "military-strength",
      "number": "04",
      "title": "Military strength & deterrence",
      "question": "Did capability protect the country, and at what cost?",
      "summary": "Examine readiness, recruitment, defense access, deterrence and military results alongside financial and human costs.",
      "checks": [
        "Capability and readiness evidence",
        "Implemented defense arrangements",
        "Expenditure, casualties and civilian protection"
      ],
      "href": "/world/compare/",
      "linkLabel": "Examine security records"
    },
    {
      "id": "sovereignty",
      "number": "05",
      "title": "Sovereignty & American interests",
      "question": "What did each agreement preserve, commit and deliver?",
      "summary": "Examine U.S. autonomy and national interests through the actual terms of alliances, treaties, trade agreements and enforcement actions.",
      "checks": [
        "Authority, obligations and retained discretion",
        "Entry into force and actual implementation",
        "Security, trade and household consequences"
      ],
      "href": "/world/compare/",
      "linkLabel": "Compare diplomacy and security"
    }
  ],
  "foundingRecords": [
    {
      "id": "founding-rights",
      "title": "Rights, faith and the founding declaration",
      "quote": "they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights",
      "explanation": "The Declaration refers to a Creator and divine Providence while asserting liberty and government by consent. These references belong in a discussion of America's religious heritage; the words alone do not establish a denomination or national religion.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "declaration"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "constitutional-restraint",
      "title": "Limited power, protected conscience",
      "quote": "but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.",
      "explanation": "The Constitution separates legislative, executive and judicial power. Article VI rejects religious tests for federal office. Evaluate presidential conduct against constitutional authority and restraints.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "constitution"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "religious-exercise",
      "title": "The freedom to practice religion",
      "quote": "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof",
      "explanation": "The First Amendment protects religious exercise alongside speech, press, assembly and petition. Christian worship and freedom of conscience are part of this inquiry; constitutional protections extend across faiths.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "first-amendment"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "christmas-holiday",
      "title": "Christmas is a federal holiday",
      "quote": "Christmas Day, December 25.",
      "explanation": "The verified 2024 U.S. Code lists Christmas among legal public holidays. Holiday designation does not compel religious observance or establish a national religion. This source is a dated codification, not an exhaustive review of every later legal change.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "christmas"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "religiousLibertyRecords": [
    {
      "id": "clinton-rfra",
      "administration": "William J. Clinton",
      "title": "Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-141)",
      "date": "1993-11-16",
      "status": "Law enacted; later constitutional scope narrowed",
      "goal": "Restore the compelling-interest test and provide a claim or defense for persons whose religious exercise is substantially burdened by government.",
      "action": "Congress passed H.R. 1308 and President Clinton approved it November 16, 1993.",
      "result": "Enacted statute. Section 3 prohibits substantial burdens unless application to the person furthers a compelling governmental interest by the least restrictive means, and provides judicial relief.",
      "limits": "RFRA is not an unconditional exemption or a protection limited to Christianity. City of Boerne limited the original state/local reach; the verified 2024 definition covers the federal government and specified entities. These sources establish no aggregate religious-exercise outcome or total actual expenditure.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "rfra-law",
        "rfra-signing",
        "rfra-boerne",
        "rfra-definition"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "obama-eo13559",
      "administration": "Barack Obama",
      "title": "Executive Order 13559 — Fundamental Principles and Policymaking Criteria for Partnerships With Faith-Based and Other Neighborhood Organizations",
      "date": "2010-11-17",
      "status": "Historical executive order issued",
      "goal": "Strengthen faith-based and other neighborhood organizations' ability to provide services while observing constitutional protections.",
      "action": "Amended EO13279 to set equal eligibility and religious non-discrimination principles, protect beneficiaries, separate explicitly religious activities from directly funded social services, require voluntary religious participation, and establish a working group.",
      "result": "Signed presidential agency directive with published requirements; it recognizes organizational religious autonomy while imposing beneficiary and funding safeguards.",
      "limits": "This is a historical 2010 directive. Direct federal social-service funding remained distinct from explicitly religious activity, and the order created no independently enforceable right or benefit. Later rules were not comprehensively reviewed. Total actual costs and service-delivery or discrimination outcomes are not established here.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "obama-faith"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "trump-eo13798",
      "administration": "Donald J. Trump (first administration)",
      "title": "Executive Order 13798 — Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty",
      "date": "2017-05-04",
      "status": "Historical executive order issued",
      "goal": "Guide executive-branch enforcement of religious liberty protections and religious/political speech.",
      "action": "Directed protection of religious and political speech to the extent permitted by law; directed Treasury's treatment of certain religious speech within existing legal limits; instructed departments to consider conscience-related preventive-care regulations and AG to issue guidance as appropriate.",
      "result": "Signed and published presidential directive. Section 3 says consider issuing amended regulations; it is not itself the final regulation.",
      "limits": "The order did not repeal 26 U.S.C. §501(c)(3), grant an unconditional campaign-speech exemption or itself complete later agency rules. Directions remained subject to existing law and appropriations. Total costs and downstream protection outcomes are not established. The later religious-liberty commission is documented separately below.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "trump-faith"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "biden-religious-freedom-2024",
      "administration": "Joe Biden",
      "title": "Religious Freedom Day, 2024",
      "date": "2024-01-12",
      "status": "Proclamation issued",
      "goal": "Affirm freedom of worship and conscience and oppose religious persecution.",
      "action": "Proclamation 10697 designated January 16, 2024 Religious Freedom Day and reaffirmed the rights of people of every faith or no faith.",
      "result": "The proclamation and stated policy are verified. This was not a new statute or a measured reduction in interference with religious exercise.",
      "limits": "A commemorative declaration does not establish implementation, judicial remedies or nationwide protection outcomes. Comparable actual expenditure and outcome measures are not established by this source.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "biden-faith"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "trump-ii-christian-religious-liberty",
      "administration": "Donald Trump II",
      "title": "Anti-Christian bias review & religious-liberty commission",
      "date": "2025-02-06",
      "status": "Task force and commission established; commission extended",
      "goal": "Protect Christians from unlawful discrimination and examine threats to religious exercise and conscience.",
      "action": "EO 14202 established a Justice Department task force. EO 14291 established the Religious Liberty Commission on May 1, 2025. EO 14354 continued the commission until September 30, 2027.",
      "result": "The signed directives and legal continuation are verified. An August 7, 2026 notice scheduled an August 17 meeting to finalize the commission report; the notice does not establish adoption or publication of that report.",
      "limits": "Allegations of anti-Christian conduct in the order are administration assertions, not independently established findings here. Bias reduction, completed reports and total actual costs are not verified. The commission's remit includes religious liberty across faiths; actions remain subject to applicable law and appropriations.",
      "sourceIds": [
        "anti-christian-bias",
        "religious-commission",
        "commission-extension",
        "commission-meeting"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "declaration",
      "title": "Declaration of Independence: A Transcription",
      "url": "https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript",
      "date": "July 4, 1776 · founding declaration",
      "locator": "Opening statement of rights; concluding divine Providence language",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "5733f05b80274a8ac62f69184010f88500247b36643926519def6b8da48e2584"
    },
    {
      "id": "constitution",
      "title": "The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription",
      "url": "https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript",
      "date": "September 17, 1787 · signed in convention",
      "locator": "Articles I–III: separate branches; Article VI: federal religious-test prohibition",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "dbc776e7483d4d87021197604906b62d6a682077ba12b5e974989d96bc5de511"
    },
    {
      "id": "first-amendment",
      "title": "The Bill of Rights: A Transcription",
      "url": "https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript",
      "date": "December 15, 1791 · ratification",
      "locator": "Amendment I: religious exercise, non-establishment, speech, press, assembly and petition",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "c7566a8f1881d5db9e7adf201d329168a9e6bf9a32efc19ff14f67e3339f76d2"
    },
    {
      "id": "christmas",
      "title": "5 U.S.C. §6103 — Holidays (United States Code, 2024 Edition)",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title5/html/USCODE-2024-title5-partIII-subpartE-chap61-subchapI-sec6103.htm",
      "date": "2024 U.S. Code edition",
      "locator": "5 U.S.C. §6103(a): Christmas Day, December 25",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "6909183aef19c2e16b1540ff3058f3a1bbb2c5ca13f249dee494f059604ea28f"
    },
    {
      "id": "rfra-law",
      "title": "Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 · Public Law 103-141",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-107/pdf/STATUTE-107-Pg1488.pdf",
      "date": "November 16, 1993 · law approved",
      "locator": "107 Stat. 1488–1490, §§2–3: substantial burden, compelling interest and least restrictive means",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "a616382ca73568cdc5800dedc2d2f9559a7a32570bc4e68d84e05d4581cf8870"
    },
    {
      "id": "rfra-signing",
      "title": "Clinton: Remarks on signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/WCPD-1993-11-22/pdf/WCPD-1993-11-22-Pg2377.pdf",
      "date": "November 16, 1993 · remarks; published November 22",
      "locator": "Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, pp. 2377–2379",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "46be9a3ff59b68bd26c328bb9cc93f5f7281acb90c35a436b3e1bcf496b56d14"
    },
    {
      "id": "rfra-boerne",
      "title": "City of Boerne v. Flores · Supreme Court opinion",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USREPORTS-521/pdf/USREPORTS-521-507.pdf",
      "date": "June 25, 1997 · decision",
      "locator": "521 U.S. 507: Congress exceeded its Fourteenth Amendment enforcement power in applying RFRA to state/local government",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "250f743d1686b4df316b6f5f3c926c96052359f0b4c0394563a8cdfc8b962d9b"
    },
    {
      "id": "rfra-definition",
      "title": "42 U.S.C. §2000bb-2 · RFRA definitions",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title42/html/USCODE-2024-title42-chap21B-sec2000bb-2.htm",
      "date": "2024 U.S. Code edition",
      "locator": "§2000bb-2(1)–(2): federal government and covered entities",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "b2e6e5d1ad59d02faff4d0e42861fa8ddb75ad9a06b9defb6c267a2f504820ad"
    },
    {
      "id": "obama-faith",
      "title": "Executive Order 13559 · Faith-based and neighborhood partnerships",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2010-11-22/pdf/2010-29579.pdf",
      "date": "November 17, 2010 · signed; published November 22",
      "locator": "75 FR 71319–71323, §2: equal eligibility, religious autonomy, funding and beneficiary safeguards",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "67abaf025bb4c94b22abe06e2f6da7abe8464c51e8095338126a2bc037b507de"
    },
    {
      "id": "trump-faith",
      "title": "Executive Order 13798 · Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-05-09/pdf/2017-09574.pdf",
      "date": "May 4, 2017 · signed; published May 9",
      "locator": "82 FR 21675–21676, §§2–5: speech, proposed conscience protections, guidance and legal limits",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "92518b168d9f91356c8df5f6a0a3168d8127c77bffca8101ff37ab83b9935876"
    },
    {
      "id": "biden-faith",
      "title": "Proclamation10697 — Religious Freedom Day,2024",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-01-19/pdf/2024-01115.pdf",
      "date": "January 12, 2024 · signed; January 16 observance",
      "locator": "Proclamation 10697, 89 FR 3535–3536",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "6c2a46abad472dc622231c5b3df45330e4690c4af7b03546eb4d7cf928a828f2"
    },
    {
      "id": "anti-christian-bias",
      "title": "Executive Order 14202 — Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-02-12/pdf/2025-02611.pdf",
      "date": "February 6, 2025 · signed; February 12 publication",
      "locator": "EO 14202, 90 FR 9365–9368, §§2–5: task force, duties and limits",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "ee7b5cadcbd58e1e7b296e6ce6e73f734b93d9933915d6e4483aa3b7dca1d02a"
    },
    {
      "id": "religious-commission",
      "title": "Executive Order 14291 — Establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-05-07/pdf/2025-08134.pdf",
      "date": "May 1, 2025 · signed; May 7 publication",
      "locator": "EO 14291, 90 FR 19417–19419, §§2–4: advisory commission and legal limits",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "656776ce1886495e2d97e49402be0e50cf411f53a046034d106fd7a8e2cdf65b"
    },
    {
      "id": "commission-extension",
      "title": "Executive Order14354 — Continuance of Certain Federal Advisory Committees",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-10-06/pdf/2025-19485.pdf",
      "date": "September 29, 2025 · signed; effective September 30",
      "locator": "EO 14354, §1(p): continuation until September 30, 2027",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "e5fa02c283b178eaf2b8ac73491930f3618133267310b5122602dc329af280d7"
    },
    {
      "id": "commission-meeting",
      "title": "Meeting of the Religious Liberty Commission",
      "url": "https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-08-07/pdf/2026-16178.pdf",
      "date": "August 7, 2026 · published; meeting scheduled August 17",
      "locator": "91 FR 51180–51181: notice and agenda, not proof of meeting or final report",
      "verifiedAt": "2026-10-06",
      "sha256": "7cf02caa1da541c0bcdc6cdd4236af3b1f22b2714ec4fc81a3e2bdb569c46899"
    }
  ]
}