Over seventy years ago, the American people, acting through Congress, and the many nonprofit organizations operating throughout the country reached a consensus: tax exemption and the eligibility to receive tax-deductible contributions would be available in exchange for refraining from making political endorsements. Known as the Johnson Amendment, this provision of the tax code prohibits all 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, which include churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates as a condition for their tax-exempt status.
Christian Nationalists have been working to dismantle and “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment. In 2017, the first Trump Administration sought to repeal this provision. This decision was met with widespread resistance from faith leaders, nonprofit organizations, and religious and denominational organizations. Now, the Internal Revenue Service is refusing to defend the Johnson Amendment from attack.
In August of 2024, the National Religious Broadcasters and two Texas churches filed a lawsuit against the IRS in Texas, alleging that the Johnson Amendment violates their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion, their Fifth Amendment rights to due process of law and equal protection under the law, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
On July 10, 2025 – after the IRS proposed a consent judgement indicating that it would not substantively defend or seek to enforce the Johnson Amendment – Americans United sought to intervene in National Religious Broadcasters, et al. v. Bessent. AU believes that the Johnson Amendment protects the integrity of both elections and nonprofit organizations, and that it promotes the core principles underlying the principle of separation of church and state: that religious freedom flourishes best when it is kept separate from politics.
On December 12, 2025, the court denied our motion to intervene. But on March 31, 2026, the court dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction, relying on arguments that we raised in our briefing. This victory prevents the consent judgment from going into effect, and leaves intact the Johnson Amendment’s protections for all.
