(RNS) — A federal judge in Texas has ruled that a prominent group defending the separation of church and state can’t take an active role in a case involving political endorsements during sermons.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State had asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas for permission to defend the so-called Johnson Amendment, an IRS rule that bars nonprofits from taking sides in political campaigns, in the case filed by religious groups opposed to the amendment. In its motion to join the suit, Americans United said a proposed settlement to the lawsuit, which would allow churches to make political statements during services, violates federal law and would give religious nonprofits rights that secular groups don’t have.
The group also argued that the federal government has refused to defend the Johnson Amendment in court.
In mid-December, U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Baker turned Americans United down, saying the lawsuit in question was not the right place to air the group’s concerns. But, he added, “(I)f a nonprofit has an equal-protection challenge to its own anticipated treatment under the Johnson Amendment, that separate dispute as to a separate transaction can be litigated in an appropriate forum.”
For years, conservative legal groups have sought to challenge the Johnson Amendment in court, organizing groups of pastors to endorse candidates during services and then mailing recordings of the endorsements to the IRS in hopes of provoking a legal battle. …