Summary:
Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate have introduced legislation that would amend a decades-old provision within the Internal Revenue Service regarding churches, pastors and nonprofits.
North Carolina Representative Mark Harris and Oklahoma Senator James Lankford introduced the bicameral Free Speech Fairness Act Monday. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas co-sponsored the legislation in the Senate, and 16 Republicans co-sponsored it in the House.
“Now that we have a Republican trifecta, [in the House, Senate and White House], [the bill sponsors are] hoping to have momentum behind it,” a Harris spokesperson told Newsweek.
Newsweek reached out to the IRS and Lankford’s and Cruz’s offices for comment.
Why It Matters
The bill would remove the Johnson Amendment, a 1954 tax code provision.
Named after President Lyndon B. Johnson, the amendment prohibits all 501©(3) tax-exempt organizations—like churches, where contributions are tax-deductible—from supporting or opposing candidates in political campaigns. It was enacted to prevent tax-deductible money from being used in the process. Such organizations can still participate in electoral processes.
During his first term in 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, Promoting Free Speech and Liberty, to ease restrictions on religious organizations and nonprofits and provide more protections.
Despite Trump’s claims that he “got rid” of the Johnson Amendment, it remains in place and can only be changed by Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court.
Satanic Temple is gonna love this one.
Satanic Temple doesn’t wield nearly as much influence under the current administration.
TST was able to gain the notoriety it had because the court systems were still a comparatively level playing field that respected the Constitution and the rule of law. The Trump administration doesn’t believe in that stuff. If this administration decides that the rules don’t apply to TST any more because fuck you that’s why, then the rules don’t apply to TST any more because fuck you that’s why. The courts are all but on board with it.
If anything, I’d be more afraid that a lawsuit started by TST would be used as justification to declare that the only “real” religions that matter are the “established” religions like Christianity and Judaism than they are to actually rule in TST’s favor, mostly on the basis of because fuck you that’s why.