Speak Up: Issue Advocacy in Increasingly Politicized Times

Authors

Sally Wagenmaker

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This article first provides a brief primer on current constraints affecting Section 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations' communications within the context of what has become known as “issue advocacy.” It then sets forth the problem of increasing politicization of nonprofits' issue advocacy activities. The article next evaluates related constitutional tensions for politically tinged issue advocacy, through the lens of the Supreme Court's free speech decisions. It concludes by addressing how the IRS's different content-based standards for issue advocacy are susceptible to abuse, are otherwise constitutionally suspect, and therefore warrant reform.

First Page

285

Recommended Citation

Sally Wagenmaker, Speak Up: Issue Advocacy in Increasingly Politicized Times, 7 J. Bus. Entrepreneurship & L. 285 (2014)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/jbel/vol7/iss2/1