Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive Faculty Scholarship Faculty Publications 2010 The Story of Bob Jones University v. United States: Race, Religion, and Congress' Extraordinary Acquiescence Olatunde C.A. Johnson Columbia Law School,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Law and Race Commons, and the Supreme Court of the United States Commons Recommended Citation Olatunde C. Johnson, The Story of Bob Jones University v. United States: Race, Religion, and Congress' Extraordinary Acquiescence, STATUTORY INTERPRETATION STORIES, WILLIAM ESKRIDGE, PHILIP P. FRICKEY & ELIZABETH GARRETT, EDS., FOUNDATION PRESS, 2010; COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL PUBLIC LAW & LEGAL THEORY WORKING PAPER NO. 10-229 (2010). Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/2523 This Working Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Scholarship Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Archive. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Columbia Law School Public Law & Legal Theory Working Paper Group Paper Number 10-229 THE STORY OF BOB JONES UNIVERSITY V. UNITED STATES: RACE, RELIGION, AND CONGRESS’ EXTRAORDINARY ACQUIESCENCE BY: PROFESSOR OLATI JOHNSON COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1552173 On May 25, 1983, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had authority to deny tax-exempt status to Bob Jones University, Goldsboro Christian School, and other private and religious schools with racially discriminatory educational policies. The Court relied on the statute’s broad purpose and placed significant weight on Congress’ failure to enact legislation to overturn the IRS policy.