Law Commons^™

Does The Constitutional Norm Of Separation Of Church And State Justify The Denial Of Tax Exemption To Churches That Engage In Partisan Political Speech?, Johnny Buckles

Johnny Buckles

The Internal Revenue Service is aggressively investigating churches for their alleged political endorsements of candidates in the 2008 presidential election. At issue is whether these churches have violated section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, which imposes a ban on electioneering by churches and other charities as a condition of maintaining federal income tax exemption. The ban has been justified as necessary to ensure the proper separation of church and state. This article critically analyzes this rationale for the ban. Four major variants of the separationist argument are articulated and thoroughly analyzed in the context of relevant Supreme Court case …