I’m away for the Easter weekend without access to a computer so will post another quick item for tomorrow.
Harvard University has
defied the Trump regime’s illegal demands and has been punished for doing so.
In an open letter April
14, Harvard’s president Alan M. Garber wrote: “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate
what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which
areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
In response the
government rescinded $2.2 b in grants to Harvard and is threatening the
university’s tax exempt status. Trump posted on Tuesday “Perhaps
Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if
it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting
‘Sickness?’”
This move is not only illegal but
dumb. Harvard has done nothing to violate its tax exempt status. In any case, law
professor Sam Brunson wrote “In 1998 Congress
explicitly provided that the president could not, directly or indirectly,
request that the IRS start or end an audit or other investigation of a taxpayer.”
Heather Cox Richardson reported
that a Wall Street Journal editorial
noted that the Supreme Court “has
repeatedly held that the government may not use federal benefits or funds to
coerce parties to surrender their constitutional rights. This is what the
Administration is doing [to Harvard].”
It’s dumb because of the
possibility of another government revoking the tax exempt of right-wing ideology
organizations. Here is where the hypocrisy comes in. Heather
Cox Richardson also reported that
Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark reposted a
clip of then-senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) on the Fox News Channel when a
right-wing group falsely alleged the IRS was targeting them. "This is about whether we have functional
constitutional government in this country,” Vance told host Laura Ingraham.
“If the IRS can go after you because of
what you think or what you believe or what you do, we'd no longer live in a
free country.“
There you have it, right from
the Vice President (watch it in the link below). Americans no longer live in a free country.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/us/why-harvard-resisted-trumps-demands.html
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-16-2025
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:yj2yzzvnylclt3ghwjnkcxxz/post/3lmxkthtxb22b
No comments:
Post a Comment