Churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other religious houses of worship in Illinois are typically incorporated, and for good reason. Religious houses of worship may be incorporated in Illinois under two different statutes, and it is up to them to decide which one. Why does it matter?
According to the Wall Street Journal, some lawyers are turning to cartoon frames and comic strips to illustrate (pardon the pun) key contract terms. Illustrations may be helpful in certain legal contexts in assisting both sides of the contract in understanding the concrete implications of otherwise abstract verbiage. But to achieve the proverbial “meeting of the minds” and for optimal legal enforceability, words matter most. But which words? Our firm lists about ten contract essentials, best communicated through words (but a cartoon frame or two might not hurt either).
Freedom Path’s journey toward Section 501(c)(4) tax-exempt recognition met another roadblock last month. The federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Freedom Path’s challenge to the IRS’s constitutionally dubious “facts and circumstances test” for determining whether educational issue advocacy on a variety of public policy issues crosses the line into excessive political campaign advocacy. Freedom Path has sought to invalidate the IRS’s Revenue Ruling 2004-06 regarding politically-tinged speech on grounds of vagueness, subjective evaluation of an organization’s communications, impermissible free speech deterrence, and illegal viewpoint discrimination by the IRS. While such arguments seem compelling, the Fifth Circuit instead focused on the preliminary technical “standing” question.