Americans United urges federal judge to protect integrity of elections and charities by upholding Johnson Amendment

Dallas — Americans United for Separation of Church and State attorneys are in federal court in Texas today to urge U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker to reject a proposed settlement agreement in National Religious Broadcasters v. Long. The agreement proposed by the Internal Revenue Service and the plaintiffs would radically reinterpret a federal law known as the Johnson Amendment by allowing houses of worship (but not secular nonprofits) to endorse and oppose partisan political candidates. AU also will argue that it should be granted intervenor status to defend the law, since the Trump administration has demonstrated it will not.

Trump administration radically reinterpreting the Johnson Amendment

“The Trump administration’s radical reinterpretation of the Johnson Amendment would eviscerate a popular law so that religious extremists can exploit houses of worship for political campaigns,” said Laser. “Tax-free giving to charities should fund charitable work, not partisan politics. Exempting only houses of worship and not secular nonprofits is not only unfair, it’s unhealthy for our democracy because it would allow churches to become unaccountable political action committees. We urge the court to reject the administration’s latest gambit to re-write the law and usurp Congressional power to write our laws.”

AU Litigation Counsel Alexandra Zaretsky and Constitutional Litigation Fellow Jess Zalph will argue on behalf of Americans United.

Broad support for Johnson Amendment

Last Thursday, members of Congress wrote to urge IRS Acting Commissioner Scott Bessent to withdraw the proposed settlement agreement: “Congress has repeatedly chosen to maintain the Johnson Amendment in statute, and we reject the notion that the IRS can unilaterally reinterpret 70 years of this settled law.”

When the first Trump administration threatened the Johnson Amendment, more than 4,600 faith leaders, 5,800 nonprofit organizations and 106 religious and denominational organizations weighed in to strongly oppose weakening or repealing the current law. AU and allies launched a national sign-on letter in late July that has already been joined by more than 1,800 organizations voicing support for the law.