Law Commons^™

Playing Devil's Advocate: The Constitutional Implications Of Requiring Advocacy Organizations To Present Opposing Viewpoints, James A. Reed

Alex Reed

The accompanying article examines the constitutionality of an I.R.S. policy that requires advocacy organizations to present opposing viewpoints in their public presentations if they wish to be afforded charitable status under the Internal Revenue Code. For almost a century, Treasury and the I.R.S. have struggled to formulate a set of criteria capable of differentiating educational advocacy organizations from mere propaganda groups. In furtherance of this end, the Service has published four factors ostensibly indicative of a non-educational methodology such that the presence of one or more of these factors in an advocacy organization’s presentations will result in the denial of …