Roger Thomas Severino (born 1974/1975) is an American attorney who served as the director of the

Office of Civil Rights The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex ...

(OCR) at the

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the US federal government created to protect the health of the US people and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

from 2017 to 2021. He is currently a senior fellow at the

Ethics and Public Policy Center The Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) is a conservative Washington, D.C.–based think tank and advocacy group. Founded in 1976, the group describes itself as "working to apply the riches of the Jewish and Christian traditions to contempora ...

and a contributor on health policy, including abortion, to

Project 2025 Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project) is a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United States and consolidate executive power in favor of right-wing policies. The plan was published in ...

Early life and education

Severino, the son of immigrants from

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, was raised in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He received a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in business from

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

, a

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

from

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

, and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

Career

From 2008 to 2015, Severino was a

trial attorney A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as wel ...

in the

United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division The Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. The division was established on December 9, 1957, b ...

. Severino was also previously CEO and counsel for the

Becket Fund for Religious Liberty Becket, also known as the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, is a non-profit public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C., with a mission to "protect the free expression of all faiths." Becket promotes accommodationism and is active in the ...

, a nonprofit law firm taking on cases related to freedom of religion. In 2015, Severino joined

The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...

, a conservative think tank geared towards public policy. There, he served as the director of the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at

. Severino has written several opinion columns for ''

The Daily Signal The Daily Signal is an American conservative news and commentary website founded in June 2014. It focuses on politics, policy, and culture and offers political commentary from a conservative perspective. The Daily Signal was a project of the H ...

''. Severino has also written for ''Public Discourse: Ethics, Law, and the Common Good,'' a journal published by the

Witherspoon Institute The Witherspoon Institute is a social Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank in Princeton, New Jersey founded in 2003 by Princeton University professor Robert P. George, Luis Tellez, and others involved with the James Madison ...

, a conservative think-tank. In 2023, Severino contributed abortion policies to the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, a plan prepared for an incoming Republican president.

Department of Health and Human Services

In March 2017, President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

appointed Severino as Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the

. He left the position on January 15, 2021. A

social conservative Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on traditional social structures over social pluralism. Social conservatives organize in favor of duty, traditional values and social institu ...

and devout

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, Severino has often been criticized for being anti-

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

. The

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for L ...

has described Severino as a "radical anti-LGBTQ activist." In 2018, Severino called the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

's expansion of

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

to include

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

"radical

gender ideology The anti-gender movement is a global phenomenon that opposes concepts often referred to as "gender ideology" or "gender theory". These loosely-defined terms are commonly used by the movement to critique a range of issues related to gender equ ...

." In an op-ed co-written by former U.S. Senator

Jim DeMint James Warren DeMint (born September 2, 1951) is an American businessman, author, and retired politician who served as a United States Senate, United States Senator from South Carolina and as president of The Heritage Foundation. A leading figure ...

, Severino said that "transgender rights supporters see sex as 'merely a placeholder' assigned at birth." As director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, Severino removed nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people established in the

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health ...

. Removing the provision allowed healthcare providers to deny care based on a patient's sexuality or gender identity. In July 2020, Trump nominated Severino for a three-year position on the Council of the

Administrative Conference of the United States The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) is an independent agency of the United States government that was established in 1964 by the Administrative Conference Act (). The conference's purpose is to "promote improvements in the ...

. Severino was commissioned in January 2021, in the final days of Trump's presidency, and in February, filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming the Biden administration offered him an ultimatum to resign or be terminated.

Personal life

Since 2004 Severino has been married to Carrie Severino (née Campbell), an attorney and activist who leads the

Judicial Crisis Network The Concord Fund (formerly the Judicial Crisis Network and the Judicial Confirmation Network) is an American conservative advocacy organization. Its president is Carrie Severino, a former law clerk for Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas. In ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Severino, Roger United States Department of Health and Human Services officials First Trump administration personnel Living people Year of birth missing (living people) University of Southern California alumni Carnegie Mellon University alumni Harvard Law School alumni American civil rights lawyers American chief executives The Heritage Foundation people American people of Colombian descent Lawyers from Los Angeles Ethics and Public Policy Center 21st-century American lawyers

Early life and education

Career

Department of Health and Human Services

Personal life

See also

References