Gaylor v. Mnuchin

Dist. Ct. erred in finding that 26 USC section 107(2) of Internal Revenue Code, which excludes housing allowances from ministers’ taxable income, was unconstitutional under First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. Ct. of Appeals, in finding section 107(2) to be constitutional under test set forth in Lemon, 403 U.S. 602, concluded that section 107(2) had secular purpose that neither endorsed nor inhibited religion and did not otherwise cause excessive government entanglement in religion. Ct. further found that section 107(2) passed historical significance test, where plaintiff failed to provide evidence that exemption like one contained in section 107(2) was historically viewed as establishment of religion.