Reagan’s attempt to restore the tax exemption was reversed by public outcry.
Evidence
In January 1982, the Reagan administration announced that it was rescinding the IRS directive that denied tax exemptions to racially discriminatory private schools, thereby restoring Bob Jones University’s tax-exempt status. A public outcry forced the administration to reconsider; Ronald Reagan backpedaled by saying that the legislature should determine such matters, not the judiciary. Bob Jones University’s appeal finally reached the US Supreme Court in October of the same year, with the university arguing that it should be allowed to retain both its tax exemption and its racial policies. Because the Reagan administration had effectively abandoned the case, the court took the unusual step of appointing a third party—William T. Coleman, a cabinet member in the Ford administration and chair of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund—to submit a brief in defense of the IRS position. — Randall Balmer, Bad Faith, 181
Categorization
- ADDENDUM: Ties into the reader’s pattern of small acts and institutional pushback: public outcry reversing an executive action is a concrete instance of accountability working.
- XREF: connects to: The welfare state’s success provoked conservative opposition to reverse it