Kutak Rock tax partner Matthias M. Edrich was the lead author of an article entitled, “Tax-Exempt Financing of Sectarian Institutions Following the Supreme Court’s Decision in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer” in the Winter 2018 Municipal Finance Journal.

Mr. Edrich worked with Kutak Rock tax colleague Dave Caprera as well as with Lauren Ferrero, Ann C. Lebowitz, John Utley, Paul Wisor and other important contributing members of the National Association of Bond Lawyers who provided critical contributions to the article.

The purpose of the article is to assist bond counsel in making the determination regarding the validity of a bond issue involving a sectarian institution, by identifying and examining trends in court opinions dealing with sectarian institutions. According to the authors, “the Court’s recent opinion in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer suggests that jurisprudence in this field is still evolving.”

The article describes how federal constitutional limitations have historically been applied based on court interpretations and explores the development of federal jurisprudence. It also includes a discussion of the United States Supreme Court decision of April 2017 in Trinity Lutheran Church, indirect government aid in the context of municipal bond financings, and the history of state law limitations imposed on government aid to sectarian organizations.

A copy of the article is available for download from The Civic Research Institute.

Mr. Edrich is a member of Kutak Rock's national federal tax and public finance practice. His work focuses on U.S. tax aspects of financial instruments, with an emphasis on tax-exempt and tax credit bonds.