FLASHBACK: Dems defend Harvard, Columbia from Trump funding cuts, despite backing same legal precedent in 1983

Democrats are now defending elite universities such as Harvard University and Colombia from threats to their federal financing and their tax -exempted placing by allegedly violating public policy despite the one -pre -legal flow that is used against them now.

The left defended the 1983 Bob Jones University against the United States, which supported the Tax Authority’s decision to cancel tax advantages from a religious college banning acquaintance between races. At that time, the Democrats agreed to the federal government’s argument that no institution should receive public funds, even on a religious basis.

Now, while the Trump administration cents a very precedent in urging the Tax Authority to cancel the Harvard University exemption status on the allegations that the university is tolerated with anti -Semitism and campus disorders, the left is accused of managing violating freedom of expression laws to target ideological opponents.

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“The Bob Jones case is a very strong precedent in the government’s corner in this matter,” said Joe Bishop Hencheman, Vice President of the tax policy and litigation at the National Tax Union Foundation and assistant researcher at the Kato Institute, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

“The Bob Jones precedent makes it difficult to win Harvard University. It will be much easier if this situation does not exist, because I think they will have to say that they are distinguished, and that this is politics,” he said. “If the administration can say it is a violation of public policy, the Bob Jones precedent follows.”

Today, Bob Jones University, a college in Christian liberal arts in Greenville, South Carolina, has a student of more than 2700. In 1983, she had policies prohibiting dating between races and marriage between students and expelling students who violated this policy. The Tax Authority said that due to these racist discriminatory policies, the school was not eligible to obtain a tax exemption.

The Trump official requests the Tax Authority to cancel the state of tax exemption at Harvard University

The Trump administration announced that it freezes more than two billion dollars of scholarships and contracts after Harvard University said it will not comply with federal demands regarding anti -Semitism. (AP photos)

The school argued that the nullity of its exempt from taxes violates its religious freedom and that it is punished for adhering to it sincere beliefs. However, the government responded that organizations – through tax exemptions – should not support the applicable general policy, especially laws against racial discrimination.

The Supreme Court sentenced 8 to 1 in favor of the federal government in the Reagan era case. The judges decided that the Tax Authority allowed them to reject the state of tax exemption for schools that practice racial discrimination because it was against public policy. Although the school claimed religious freedom, combating racial discrimination was a “convincing government interest”.

“This is the message that Bob Jones said, but perhaps it should not be just one university,” said Henshman.

The scenery of drones shows anti -Israel demonstrators to mobilize their camp in Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 14, 2024. (Reuters/Brian Snyder Pictures today)

The Supreme Court considered that the institutions failed to provide “beneficial effects and urges the societal life” required to receive a special tax case supported by taxpayers, according to the Oyez judicial archive. Because of their ban on relations between races, schools were unable to meet this standard.

The judges concluded that racial discrimination in education is inconsistent with “basic national policy”. While recognizing the religious beliefs of schools, the court found that the government may limit religious freedoms when it is necessary to serve a “dominant government interest” in this case, prohibiting racial discrimination. The court also noted, “Not all burdens on religion are unconstitutional.”

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As such, the Trump administration argues that Harvard’s dealings with anti -Semitism on the campus must exclude the university from maintaining a tax exemption from 501 (c) (3). The Tax Authority is expected to make a final decision soon, according to a CNN report, which broke the story for the first time.