Religious Liberty Commission Draft Report Recommends Repealing the Johnson Amendment

What happened:
On July 3, the Religious Liberty Commission — created by a May 1, 2025 executive order — released a draft report with 12 recommendations following a year of hearings. Recommendation 9 calls for repealing the Johnson Amendment, the tax code provision that has barred 501(c)(3) organizations, including houses of worship, from endorsing or opposing candidates since 1954. It also backs legislation such as the Free Speech Fairness Act to repeal the amendment outright and the Safeguarding Charity Act to limit federal regulation of tax-exempt organizations more broadly.

Until the Johnson Amendment is repealed, the Commission recommends that:

• The Treasury issue guidance clarifying that the amendment doesn’t reach religious speech by houses of worship and faith-based nonprofits.
• The DOJ back litigation challenging the amendment’s constitutionality and open an inquiry into alleged IRS “weaponization” against religious organizations.

Why it matters for Pennsylvania nonprofits:
This pushes the Johnson Amendment fight — which PANO has tracked since April through a dismissed court challenge and planned Treasury guidance — into a formal, White House-created commission recommending repeal, litigation, and an IRS investigation all at once. If the Treasury adopts the guidance recommended here, enforcement could narrow for houses of worship well before Congress acts, while the law stays on the books for every other 501(c)(3) — inviting the same donor and partisan-pressure risks the sector has long relied on the amendment’s nonpartisanship requirement to prevent.

What to do:
The comment period closes July 12. Organizations can find instructions here for submitting comments.

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Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash