the Johnson Amendment was first inserted into the tax code in a sneaky and underhanded manner, without due consideration by Congress or open debate. Lyndon B. Johnson, when he first ran for Senate in the state of Texas, seems to have stolen the election. An election judge admitted as much on his death bed, and told exactly how he had helped Johnson steal the election. A lot of Texas preachers knew about this, so the next time Johnson came up for re election, in 1954, they told their congregations exactly what they thought about his lack of honesty and integrity. So, Johnson thought of a novel way to shut them up. He quietly slipped an amendment into the tax code stating that churches and non profits could not endorse candidates or engage in political speech. This amendment was never openly debated on the floor, and many Congressmen did not even know it was there when they voted on the tax bill.
However it got inserted into the tax code, it is there now. It is still the law. Same with McCain-Feingold. However bad, it is still the law. Think we can get away with breaking that law?