Walz v. Tax Commission | |
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Argued November 19, 1969 Decided May 4, 1970 | |
Full case name | Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York |
Citations | 397 U.S. 664 ( more ) 90 S. Ct. 1409; 25 L. Ed. 2d 697; 1970 U.S. LEXIS 43 |
Argument | Oral argument |
Case history | |
Prior | Summary judgment affirmed by New York Court of Appeals, 24 N.Y.2d 30, 246 N.E.2d 517 (1969); probable jurisdiction noted, 395 U.S. 957(1969). |
Holding | |
Grants of tax exemption to religious organizations do not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. | |
Court membership | |
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Case opinions | |
Majority | Burger, joined by Black, Harlan, Brennan, Stewart, White, Marshall |
Concurrence | Brennan |
Concurrence | Harlan (in judgment) |
Dissent | Douglas |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const., Amends. I and XIV |
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Walz v. Tax Commission of the City of New York, 397 U.S. 664 (1970), was a case before the United States Supreme Court. The Court held that grants of tax exemption to religious organizations do not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. [1]
New York law granted property tax exemptions to religious organizations for religious properties used solely for religious worship.
The plaintiff, Frederick Walz, an owner of real estate in Staten Island, New York, brought suit in the New York Supreme Court, Special Term, seeking to enjoin the New York City Tax Commission from granting these exemptions. The plaintiff contended that the exemptions indirectly required him to make a contribution to religious bodies and thereby violated the religion clauses of the First Amendment.
Rejecting this contention, the New York Supreme Court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment and dismissed the complaint. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court [2] and the New York Court of Appeals [3] affirmed.
The United States Supreme Court affirmed, in an opinion by Chief Justice Warren Burger, expressing the views of five members of the court. [1]
The Court held that there was no nexus between these tax exemptions and the establishment of religion, and that federal or state grants of tax exemption to churches did not violate the First Amendment:
Justices Brennan and Harlan, each in a separate opinion, while concurring in the court's conclusion that the tax exemptions did not violate the First Amendment, would reach this conclusion by applying different criteria from those applied by the court. [1]
Justice Douglas would have held that the tax exemptions for religious organizations violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. [1]
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