Religious broadcasters and churches are suing the IRS over a political involvement law

A new lawsuit accuses the Internal Revenue Service of selectively enforcing a law intended to prevent tax-exempt, nonprofit organizations, including churches, from weighing in on politics as it seeks a ruling declaring the law unconstitutional. 

National Religious Broadcasters and Intercessors for America, along with the Texas-based Sand Springs Church and First Baptist Church Waskom, filed a complaint in the United States District Court last week. 

The lawsuit, which names the IRS and its Director Danny Werfel as defendants, begins by explaining that “The Internal Revenue Code [‘IRC’] prohibits only one class of nonprofit organizations from communicating their views about political candidates—those organized under § 501(c)(3) of the IRC.”

The law is known as the Johnson Amendment.

The complaint outlines examples of what it describes as “IRS targeting conservative nonprofits for unfavorable treatment” to back up its assertion that the federal government agency “operates in a manner that disfavors conservative organizations and conservative, religious organizations.” It includes a quote from a 2017 report compiled by then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions concluding that “during the last Administration, the IRS began using inappropriate criteria to screen applications for 501(c) status.”