I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit

The I.R.S. said on Monday that churches and other houses of worship can endorse political candidates to their congregations, carving out an exemption in a decades-old ban on political activity by tax-exempt nonprofits.

The agency made that statement in a court filing intended to settle a lawsuit filed by two Texas churches and an association of Christian broadcasters.

The plaintiffs that sued the I.R.S. had previously asked a federal court in Texas to create an even broader exemption — to rule that all nonprofits, religious and secular, were free to endorse candidates to their members. That would have erased a bedrock idea of American nonprofit law: that tax-exempt groups cannot be used as tools of any campaign.

Instead, the I.R.S. agreed to a narrower carveout — one that experts in nonprofit law said might sharply increase politicking in churches, even though it mainly seemed to formalize what already seemed to be the agency’s unspoken policy.

The agency said that if a house of worship endorsed a candidate to its congregants, the I.R.S. would view that not as campaigning but as a private matter, like “a family discussion concerning candidates.”

“Thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted,” the agency said, in a motion filed jointly with the plaintiffs.

The ban on campaigning by nonprofits is named after former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who introduced it as a senator in 1954. President Trump has repeatedly called for its repeal.

In the filing, the I.R.S. and the plaintiffs asked a federal judge to enter an order barring the Trump administration — and any that came after it — from enforcing the ban against the groups that sued.

Neither the I.R.S. nor a lawyer for the plaintiffs responded to a request for comment on Monday evening.

For years, the I.R.S. has seemed deeply leery of punishing religious leaders for political statements made during worship. But the experts said this was the first time that the agency had formally said such statements were not just tolerated but explicitly legal.

“It basically tells churches of all denominations and sects that you’re free to support candidates from the pulpit,” said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame who has studied regulation of political activity by churches. “It also says to all candidates and parties, ‘Hey, time to recruit some churches.’”

Ellen P. Aprill, a professor emeritus at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said she believed that the I.R.S.’s decision would set off new debates about its limits. What if a church posts endorsements online? Communications meant for congregants could easily reach people unconnected to the church family.

“It’s not going to be limited to just their membership,” she said. “Even Las Vegas doesn’t stay in Las Vegas these days. Everybody has a web page.”

Seamus Hughes contributed reporting.