A federal judge on Tuesday declined
to approve a Trump administration-crafted settlement that would
have allowed churches and other houses of worship to endorse
political candidates to their congregations without risking
losing their status as tax-exempt nonprofits.
U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker in Tyler, Texas,
ruled he lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and sign off on a
consent judgment that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service had
entered into with two Texas churches and the National Religious
Broadcasters.
Under the IRS’ proposed pact, traditional religious
communications would be deemed exempt from a decades-old
provision in the U.S. tax code that bars nonprofits, religious
and secular, from endorsing political candidates.
It entered into that agreement in July to resolve a lawsuit
that NRB, an association of Christian broadcasters, filed ahead
of the 2024 presidential election to challenge the 1954 tax code
provision known as the Johnson Amendment, which was named for
then-Senator Lyndon Johnson, who went on to become president.
But Barker, who was appointed by Trump during his first
administration, sided with opponents of the agreement from the
Americans United for Separation of Church and State in finding
the Tax Anti-Injunction Act barred him from approving the deal.
That law broadly prohibits lawsuits that seek to block the
collection of taxes. And Barker said that declaring the Johnson
Amendment does not apply to specific conduct “would thus
directly bear on the amount of tax that could be collected.”
Rachel Laser, the president of the Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, in a statement applauded
Barker’s decision to dismiss the case, saying it means “the
Johnson Amendment will remain a strong bulwark to stop religious
extremists from exploiting houses of worship.”
Michael Farris, NRB’s general counsel, said his organization
plans to appeal, saying Barker’s ruling ignored an exemption to
the Anti-Injunction Act that would allow the case to proceed.
The IRS did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Department of Justice under Democratic President
Joe Biden had defended the law’s constitutionality in court
before shifting course under Republican President Donald Trump,
who has called for the Johnson Amendment to be repealed.
The IRS in proposing the settlement last year said that
interpreting the Johnson Amendment to include communications
between a house of worship and its congregation would create
“serious tension” with the religious rights protections of the
U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
Published on April 1, 2026
