Monday, August 20, 2012

Can A Catholic School 's Tax Exemption Be Removed Because Of Sex Requirements for Leadership ?

Law Prof  Martha C. Nussbaum , Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics in the Law School and Philosophy Department at the University of Chicago , continues to make some remarks that are troublesome for religious freedom and the First Amendment in my view. She was interviewed by the Boston Review at The New Religious Intolerance An Interview with Martha Nussbaum.

Law Prof Michael Moreland of Villanova picked up on the major concern at this post at Mirrors of Justice Nussbaum on Catholic University Presidents.

In particular her viewpoint that the Federal Govt could deny the tax exemption to Catholics schools that have have their Presidencies open to one sex only. This of course brings forth the still controversial Bob Jones Supreme Court opinion , and issues if tax exemptions are a "gift" or grant by the Government. I think Moreland makes a good push back here.


What got so many religious groups concerned  about the Bob Jones case ( tax exemption denied to School that forbid interracial dating ) was could this extend beyond the special case of race . To let us say gender and now in this day and age perhaps even sexual orientation.

The more we see Nussbaum argument mirrored in the legal academy the more some of their concerns from decades ago might prove to be right.

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