Wall Street Journal, Judge Blocks Deal Allowing Churches to Endorse Political Candidates:

A federal judge in Texas rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to allow religious leaders to endorse candidates from the pulpit.

Judge J. Campbell Barker ruled Tuesday that he lacked the authority to consider an agreement that would have effectively created an exception to the so-called Johnson Amendment, the law that bars political endorsements and other political activity by charities and churches.

The ruling is a setback for President Trump’s attempts to eliminate restrictions on religious groups’ political activity. 

New York Times, Judge Dismisses Lawsuit That Challenged Ban on Endorsements by Churches:

Conservatives had expected a victory in the case after the I.R.S. agreed to a settlement that allowed churches to voice support for candidates. …

Tuesday’s ruling left significant uncertainty about how — or whether — the Trump administration would enforce the ban on politicking by churches now.

The administration has not repudiated its statement from last summer arguing in favor of a loophole. But the Internal Revenue Service, which polices tax-exempt groups, still warns on its website that churches must stay out of politics.

Weeks before the mayoral election in New York in November, Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue gave a sermon urging opposition to Zohran Mamdani, then the Democratic candidate, saying he was a “danger to the security of the New York Jewish community.”

Last August, a pastor in Kenosha, Wis., the Rev. Jonathan Barker, wrote a sermon urging Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, to run for president in 2028.

Bloomberg Law, Church Political Speech Leeway Shifts to IRS After Court Ruling:

A push by the Trump administration for a court’s blessing to allow political endorsements by churches now falls directly into the hands of the IRS after a federal court dismissed an agreement allowing more politics in the pulpit.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas dismissed the consent agreement because the organizations’ challenge case lacked the requisite IRS consequence to challenge—like a 501(c)(3) status being revoked or application denial.

“That probably won’t happen here if the point of this whole exercise was to send the message that ‘we’re not going to enforce against you,’” Brian Galle, a law professor at UC Berkeley and former prosecutor at the US Department of Justice’s Tax Division, said. …

Regulations lifting the ban for churches would be a “cleaner path” instead of the one-off approach in litigation, said Phil Hackney, a University of Pittsburgh law professor and former IRS lawyer. It’s questionable, though, whether any regulations would be legitimate as they could violate the Constitution, he said. …

Lloyd Mayer, a professor at the University of Notre Dame Law School, said the settlement may spur the IRS to continue making exceptions for churches to support or oppose candidates from the lectern. The recent ruling should sustain the Johnson Amendment’s “chilling effect” on pastors, even though IRS enforcement has been rare under the Trump, Biden, and Obama administrations.

Bloomberg Law, IRS to Issue Guidance on Politics in Church After Court Ruling:

The IRS and Treasury Department will release guidance on political endorsements by churches and other religious groups after a federal court dismissed an agreement between the government and churches allowing more political speech.

Guidance will provide “clear, administrable standards for houses of worship, including how the law applies to certain communications made within the context of religious services,” Treasury said in a release Friday.

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