Court Dismisses Catholic Answers's Challenge to Political Campaign Intervention Ban

We previously mentioned the case brought by the James Madison Center for Free Speech against the IRS on behalf of Catholic Answers, a charitable section 501(c)(3) organization.  Catholic Answers challenged the IRS imposition of excise taxes for political campaign intervention expenditures on void-for-vagueness grounds, asserting that the IRS definition of such intervention is unconstitutional.  Last week a federal district court dismissed the case on procedural grounds, including that the claim was moot in that the government had refunded the taxes initially assessed (as various commentators, including Marc Owens, had predicted would happen).  Another case brought by the James Madison Center on behalf of the Christian Coalition of Florida, a section 501(c)(4) organization, raising similar issues is still pending.

LHM