" AMERICANS UNITED" INC. v. Walters

• Decision Date: 11 January 1973
• Docket Number: No. 71-1299.,71-1299.
• Parties: "AMERICANS UNITED" INC., et al., Appellants, v. Johnnie M. WALTERS, Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

477 F.2d 1169 (1973)

"AMERICANS UNITED" INC., et al., Appellants, v. Johnnie M. WALTERS, Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

No. 71-1299.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued September 11, 1972.

Decided January 11, 1973.

Certiorari Granted June 4, 1973.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Mr. Alan Morrison, with whom Mr. Franklin C. Salisbury, Washington, D. C., was on the brief, for appellants.

Mr. Leonard J. Henzke, Jr., Atty., Tax Div., Dept. of Justice, with whom Messrs. Thomas A. Flannery, U. S. Atty. at the time the brief was filed, and Grant W. Wiprud, Atty., Tax Div., Dept. of Justice, were on the brief, for appellee.

Before FAHY, Senior Circuit Judge, and TAMM and WILKEY, Circuit Judges.

Certiorari Granted June 4, 1973. See 93 S.Ct. 2752.

TAMM, Circuit Judge:

This case comes to us on appeal from an order in the district court denying appellants' (plaintiffs below) petition to convene a three-judge district court pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 2282 (1970), and granting appellee's motion to dismiss. For the reasons stated at length below we affirm the action of the district court as it pertained to the individual appellants involved, but as to the corporate appellant reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

Appellant Americans United, incorporated as "Protestants and Other Americans for Separation of Church and State," is organized under the laws of the District of Columbia and is a non-profit educational corporation. On July 3, 1950, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue issued a ruling that Americans United qualified as tax exempt under § 101(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, the predecessor to § 501(c)(3) of the 1954 Code.¹ Consequently, for a period of nearly twenty years not only was Americans United free from taxation upon its income, but also contributors to the corporation were entitled to the deductions provided under § 170 of the 1954 Code (§ 23(q) of the 1939 Code).² On April 25, 1969, a letter ruling from the Service revoked the 1950 ruling, holding that Americans United had violated §§ 170(c)(2)(D) and 501(c)(3) of the Code by devoting a substantial part of its activities to attempts to influence legislation. More particularly, the letter ruling stated that although part of Americans United's activities could be classified as "educational" or "charitable" within the meaning of § 501(c)(3) of the Code, it was, nonetheless, an "active advocate of a political doctrine." The majority of the corporation's activities were held to be in furtherance of the following goals: "the mobilization of public opinion; resisting every attempt by law or the administration of law which widens the breach in the wall of separation of church and state; working for the repeal of any existing state law which sanctions the granting of public aid to church schools; and uniting all `patriotic' citizens in a concerted effort to prevent the passage of any federal law allotting, directly or indirectly, federal education funds to church schools."

While Americans United still retained a tax exempt status as an organization described in § 501(c)(4) of the Code,³ the removal of its § 501(c)(3) exemption allegedly proved to be most damaging. Americans United states that its resulting removal from the list of § 170 corporations to whom tax free contributions could be made dried up its well of contributory resources to such an extent that it operated at a deficit for the first time in its history during fiscal year 1970. Consequently, on July 30, 1970, this action was commenced in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Two individual plaintiffs, Archer and Lowell, apparently suing as taxpayers who intended in the future to contribute to Americans United, joined with Americans United in bringing the class action.

The amended complaint in the district court averred violations of various first and fifth amendment liberties and guarantees: (1) §§ 170 and 501, and the action of the Commissioner in giving force and effect thereto, were unconstitutional and void insofar as they denied § 501(c)(3) status to the corporate appellant by reason of its exercise of first amendment rights, and likewise denied individual appellants the privilege of deducting the contributions used as a vehicle to exercise their first amendment rights. (2) Since what was a "substantial part" in the case of Americans United was not a "substantial part" in the case of other, larger organizations opposed to appellants' viewpoint, the change of status because of the substantiality of the activities of one organization as opposed to another in expressing opinions and influencing legislation was an unreasonable classification against Americans United, and by reason thereof Americans United and other organizations similarly situated were being discriminated against and denied equal protection of the laws in violation of the fifth amendment of the United States Constitution. (3) Appellants claimed that their tax dollars were being used by reason of §§ 170 and 501 in a manner that aided and strengthened churches whose size permitted their influencing of legislation to be "relatively less substantial than that of the corporate appellant," and that appellee's actions in enforcement thereof constituted violations of the establishment and free exercise clauses of the first amendment. (4) The exemption clause of § 501(c) (3) amounted to an invalid delegation of legislative power "in that the statutory standards of `substantiality' and `propaganda' were lacking in specificity for the carrying out of the purpose of Section 501(c)(3)." (5) Finally, the defendant acted arbitrarily and capriciously in abuse of his discretion in applying, in this situation, the "substantial influencing" clause of the statutory exemption of § 501(c)(3).

Appellants' complaint founded jurisdiction for the action upon 28 U.S. C. § 1331 (1970) (civil action where amount in controversy exceeds $10,000 and which arises under the Constitution and laws of the United States), 28 U.S. C. § 1340 (1970) (whereby jurisdiction is bestowed in the federal district court in any civil action arising under an Act of Congress providing for internal revenue), and § 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 701-706 (1970) (making final agency action subject to judicial review). Appellants also sought the convention of a three-judge district court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2282⁴ and 2284 (1970), and requested the following relief: (1) Declaratory judgment that the "exemption clauses of Section 501(c)(3) were separable from the remainder of the section and were null and void" as unconstitutional under the first and fifth amendments, and as an invalid delegation of legislative power.⁵ (2) Judgment "requiring" the appellee to "reevaluate" corporate appellant as a § 501(c)(3) charitable corporation and to reinstate corporate appellant on the Cumulative List, Organizations Described in Section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, if found to be eligible under the newly constituted § 501(c)(3). (3) Judgment restraining the appellee from enforcing §§ 170(c) and 501(c)(3) so as to deprive the individual appellants "of the benefit of tax advantages in the exercise of their First Amendment rights by reason of the unconstitutionality of those sections." (4) Judgment that appellee acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in changing the status of corporate appellant. (5) In the alternative, judgment requiring appellee to reopen the revocation proceedings and reevaluate the corporate appellant "in the light of the final decision in this case."

Appellee filed a motion to dismiss, based essentially on 28 U.S.C. § 2201 (1970),⁶ which prohibits declaratory judgments "with respect to Federal taxes," and 26 U.S.C. § 7421(a) (1970),⁷ which prohibits suits "for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax." The trial court denied appellants' petition to convene a three-judge court, finding that no substantial constitutional question was raised, and granted appellee's motion to dismiss, citing National Council on the Facts of Overpopulation v. Caplin, 224 F.Supp. 313 (D.D.C.1963).

Alleging error in both aspects of the trial court's order, appellants bring this appeal. Contending that no taxes have been assessed or collected, that this is a civil rights rather than tax case, and that they have no other adequate remedy, appellants maintain that the provisions of 26 U.S.C. § 7421(a) (1970) and 28 U.S.C. § 2201 (1970) cannot be used to prohibit the declaratory and injunctive relief sought. They further contend that they have raised substantial constitutional questions meriting the invoking of a three-judge court under the standards established in Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. v. Epstein, 370 U. S. 713, 82 S.Ct. 1294, 8 L.Ed.2d 794 (1962). Appellee's posture on appeal is somewhat different, of course, and in addition to the grounds listed by the trial judge for dismissing the action he relies upon the doctrine of governmental immunity, claiming this to be an unconsented suit against the United States. Louisiana v. McAdoo, 234 U.S. 627, 34 S.Ct. 938, 58 L.Ed. 1506 (1914).

II. JURISDICTION

1. Introduction

The statutes providing for three-judge "constitutional" courts, adopted to avoid impolitic action on the part of lone federal district judges in matters of broad regulatory scope, are procedural rather than substantively jurisdictional in nature. A complaint which raises substantial constitutional questions and otherwise meets the requirements of § 2282 can and should be dismissed if independent district court jurisdiction is found wanting. "The provision requiring the presence of a court of three judges necessarily assumes that the District Court has jurisdiction." Ex Parte Poresky, 290 U.S. 30, 31, 54 S.Ct. 3, 4, 78 L.Ed. 152 (1933). This court has held that a dismissal...