501(c)(3) (12. 564)

Since its adoption in July of 1954, the Johnson Amendment as a provision in the US tax code has prohibited non-profit organisations, charitable foundations, universities and churches, from endorsing or opposing political candidates or risk losing their tax exempt status. Named for then senator Lyndon B Johnson (previously), the section of the tax code of the Internal Revenue Service defining which groups are not liable to a levy on donations was amended without debate and was long considered uncontroversial until the 2010s when the Pulpit Freedom Initiative—likewise shielded from taxation—begin lobbying for its repeal, culminating with Trump announcing his intent to “totally destroy” the provision during the National Prayer Breakfast in February of 2017 shortly after his first inauguration. Whilst not completely removing the language, the acting IRS commission, during ongoing litigation between the tax authority and religious liberties campaigners, has signalled a significant posture shift in the rarely enforced law—comparing a religious institution’s endorsement of a a political candidate to a “family discussion” and falls short of intervening in a campaign if a pastor “in good faith speaks to their congregation through customary channels” on electoral platforms through a lens of faith. The Catholic church, regardless of legal permissibility, does not allow funds to be spent on behalf of candidates, officially, and as a general rule should not engage in partisan politics.