At this year’s State Bar of Arizona Convention, Secular AZ and the Religious Liberty Law Section co-sponsored the panel From Pulpit to Precedent: The Johnson Amendment on Trial.
For seventy years, the Johnson Amendment has prohibited churches and nonprofits from endorsing candidates. Rarely enforced but often debated, the Amendment continues to raise questions about free speech, free exercise, church autonomy, campaign finance, dark money, tax privileges, and the boundaries of church-state separation. Today, courts, the IRS, and litigants on all sides are still testing its limits, creating ongoing uncertainty about how the rule will be interpreted and applied.
Dianne Post, Secular AZ Legal Director, summarizes the experience.