Charities and Lobbying: Institutional Rights in the Wake ofCitizens United

Abstract

Abstract The Supreme Court's landmark decision in Citizens United v. FEC provided corporations with the highest level of First Amendment speech protection, at least in the context of election-related speech. On its face, this strong level of protection would seem to throw into doubt the speech-related restrictions federal tax law imposes on charities, including the limits on lobbying. There are, however, at least two reasons to believe this conclusion is incorrect. First, the effect of the Citizens United holding on the lobbying limits for charities is unclear because of the Supreme Court's identification of a government subsidy—in the form of tax benefits—in the charity context. Second, the Court's related decision to conclude that a charity's First Amendment rights are sufficiently vindicated by the ability to speak through the alternate channel of a non-charitable affiliate further complicates the analysis. At the same time, however, these complications provide grounds for considering whether a more nu...