Fact Checking Xavier Becerra’s Claim That He ‘Never Sued Any Nuns’
During his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, President Joe Biden’s nominee for health and human services secretary, Xavier Becerra—the attorney general of California since 2017—claimed that he “never sued any nuns” in response to a question about litigation against the Little Sisters of the Poor. Becerra further claimed that the lawsuit in question was filed against the federal government “because they have been trying to do things that are contrary to the law in California.”
At the hearing, Sen. John Thune posed the following question to Becerra:
“It does seem like, as attorney general, you spent an inordinate amount of time and effort suing pro-life organizations, like Little Sisters of the Poor, or trying to ease restrictions or expand abortion. You’re going to have a big job as secretary of Health and Human Services, if confirmed. So how do you assure us, that—because I think the majority of American people would not want their secretary of health and human services focused or fixated on expanding abortion when we’ve got all these public health issues to deal with. So how do you assure us that that’s not going to be something that continues over from your time as attorney general?”
In response, Becerra stated:
