Bob Jones University v. United States

Chief Justice Burger gave the opinion for the Court. He addressed the petitioner's close reading of 501(c)(3): in their interpretation, the rule guaranteed charitable status to corporations organized and operated exclusively for religious or educational purposes, and since their purposes were both, they fell well within the exemption. The chief justice, however, said that it was the duty of the Court to "go beyond the literal language of a statute if reliance on that language would defeat the plain purpose of the statute." Citing a host of earlier Court decisions, as well as speeches in Congress and other official pronouncements of the U.S. government, Burger established a definition of charity. In Perin v. Carey (1861), for instance, it was stated that courts should "protect . . . a gift . . . to public charitable uses, provided the same is consistent with local laws and public policies." In a 1917 speech to Congress during a debate on charitable exemptions, a senator had opined that "For every dollar that a man contributes to these public charities, educational, scientific, or otherwise, the public gets 100 percent."