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The landmark 1983 Supreme Court decision, stripping Bob Jones University of its tax-exempt status, revisited:
"The leaders of Bob Jones University argued that its dispute with the Carter Administration was mainly about religion, not race, because the school’s ban on interracial dating was a divine command. . . . Today, most Americans would find the bottom-line holding of Bob Jones unremarkable. In fact, in 2008, even the university officially apologized for embracing 'the segregationist ethos of American culture' instead of 'the principles and precepts of the Scriptures.'”
The article points out that it is questionable for the IRS, whose purpose is to collect taxes, to be making judgments on the social polices of charities: "In the future, one White House fact sheet warned, the IRS could have 'announce[d] that it was revoking the tax exemption of schools which will not admit men, or hospitals which perform (or refuse to perform) abortions, or environmental groups which interfere with national energy policy.' 'No administrative agency should have this power,' this fact sheet concluded, as 'these judgments are fundamentally judgments for Congress.'"
The author suggests that President Trump's threat to strip tax exemption from universities shows the ongoing legacy of the 1983 Bob Jones decision, and that this is a power that could be misused by both liberal and conservative administrations: "By way of example, consider the Trump Administration’s efforts to strip Harvard University and several other elite Ivy League institutions of their tax exemptions for alleged racial discrimination (among other alleged violations of federal civil rights laws). As has been reported, President Trump has predicated these threatened revocations on the fact that institutions like Harvard are no longer acting in the 'public interest,' which appears to be a nod towards what the Supreme Court in Bob Jones termed 'public policy.'”
lawliberty.org
"The leaders of Bob Jones University argued that its dispute with the Carter Administration was mainly about religion, not race, because the school’s ban on interracial dating was a divine command. . . . Today, most Americans would find the bottom-line holding of Bob Jones unremarkable. In fact, in 2008, even the university officially apologized for embracing 'the segregationist ethos of American culture' instead of 'the principles and precepts of the Scriptures.'”
The article points out that it is questionable for the IRS, whose purpose is to collect taxes, to be making judgments on the social polices of charities: "In the future, one White House fact sheet warned, the IRS could have 'announce[d] that it was revoking the tax exemption of schools which will not admit men, or hospitals which perform (or refuse to perform) abortions, or environmental groups which interfere with national energy policy.' 'No administrative agency should have this power,' this fact sheet concluded, as 'these judgments are fundamentally judgments for Congress.'"
The author suggests that President Trump's threat to strip tax exemption from universities shows the ongoing legacy of the 1983 Bob Jones decision, and that this is a power that could be misused by both liberal and conservative administrations: "By way of example, consider the Trump Administration’s efforts to strip Harvard University and several other elite Ivy League institutions of their tax exemptions for alleged racial discrimination (among other alleged violations of federal civil rights laws). As has been reported, President Trump has predicated these threatened revocations on the fact that institutions like Harvard are no longer acting in the 'public interest,' which appears to be a nod towards what the Supreme Court in Bob Jones termed 'public policy.'”
Bob Jones's Warning – Dennis Wieboldt
Executive-led education reforms, even those with laudable goals, can have unintended consequences.
lawliberty.org
