Overview

• The IRS and two Texas church plaintiffs filed a joint motion on July 7 seeking a court order that lifts Johnson Amendment restrictions on candidate endorsements by those churches.
• IRS lawyers argued in the motion that sermons on electoral politics viewed through a lens of religious faith do not constitute campaign intervention under the ordinary meaning of the law.
• While the filing legally binds only the two Texas churches, it effectively sends a permissive message to all 501(c)(3) houses of worship across the country.
• An informal survey of Utah evangelical pastors found 16 of 20 saying they will continue abstaining from pulpit endorsements despite the new IRS guidance.
• Civil-liberties groups warn the carve-out privileges religious nonprofits over secular ones and could embolden Christian nationalists, while faith leaders brace for fresh pressure from congregants and political actors.