BOB JONES UNIVERSITY V. UNITED STATES (1983)

Prior to 1970, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) granted tax-exempt status to private schools, colleges, and universities without consideration of the discriminatory nature of their admissions policies. Following an injunction from the District Court for the District of Columbia in Green v. Kennedy (1970), the IRS no longer provided this exemption to schools that had racially discriminatory policies in place. One of the schools affected by this new change was Bob Jones University, a religiously affiliated nonprofit that interpreted the Bible as prohibiting miscegenation. The university banned interracial relationships on campus and refused to admit students in interracial relationships. In the mid-1970s, Bob Jones and Goldsboro Christian Schools sued the IRS, seeking restitution of their tax-exempt status. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that racially discriminatory policies, even those stemming from religious beliefs, violated clear federal policy against discrimination in education and thus could not be considered for tax exemption. The plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court. The ACLU joined with other civil and human rights groups to provide amici curiae briefs urging that the appellate decision be affirmed. The Supreme Court held that the government has a fundamental and overriding interest in eradicating racial discrimination in education, which “prevailed, with official approval, for the first 165 years of this Nation’s constitutional history.” Since 1983, Bob Jones University v. United States has served as a reminder that the religion clauses of the First Amendment do not trump compelling government policies against discrimination.