Chuck DarwinReligious broadcasters sue IRS over rule limiting political speech for nonprofits
A coalition of religious broadcasters and churches is suing the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over a long-standing rule that forbids certain nonprofits, including churches, from supporting politicians and political campaigns.
The complaint, filed on Wednesday in U.S. district court by the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), argues that churches “are placed in a unique and discriminatory status” by the Internal Revenue Code.
That code automatically classifies almost all churches as 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. Since 1954, the Johnson Amendment of the tax code — named after then-Texas Sen. Lyndon Johnson — forbids 501(c)(3) nonprofits from endorsing or opposing political candidates.
Some efforts have been made over the years to repeal or loosen the Johnson Amendment, including a failed effort as part of the 2017 tax reform bill and a religious freedom executive order signed by President Donald Trump that same year.
In their lawsuit, meanwhile, the religious broadcasters — along with two churches and the nonprofit Intercessors for America — argue that the tax code punishes churches by “silenc[ing] their speech while providing no realistic alternative for operating in any other fashion.”
The plaintiffs assert in the suit that the 501(c)(3) rules are applied unevenly and that there is “no apparent rational basis for determining which 501(c)(3) organizations will be permitted to proceed and which will be penalized for violating the Johnson Amendment.”
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