Applying the first amendment to the internal revenue code: Minnesota voters alliance and the tax law’s regulation of nonprofit organizations’ political speech.

Abstract

On its face, Minnesota Voters Alliance is about which t-shirts, hats, and buttons voters can wear at the polls. However, the Court’s First Amendment analysis in Minnesota Voters Alliance extends beyond apparel at polling places. That decision impacts the ongoing debate about the Johnson Amendment,12 the now controversial provision of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) that forbids organizations listed in section 501(c)(3)13 from intervening in political campaigns. Minnesota Voters Alliance also affects the proper construction of section 501(c)(3)’s ban on lobbying by tax-exempt entities14 as well as other provisions of the tax law taxing and precluding campaign intervention by tax-exempt organizations.15 (from Introduction)