December 13, 2001 | Read Time: 1 minute
A white supremacist group that says it is not a charity but a church suffered a legal setback when the Illinois Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a law governing charitable organizations.
The ruling means that the group, the World Church of the Creator, might be required to register as a charity and provide the financial information that Illinois requires of charities.
State Attorney General James E. Ryan sued the group in 1999, just days after a member went on a shooting spree against minorities, killing two people and injuring nine before shooting himself. Mr. Ryan said that the group is a charity rather than a church because it solicits membership dues and sells books and periodicals, and as such is required to disclose its finances. He sought to impose a fine of $1,000, freeze the group’s assets, and stop it from conducting business until it revealed its financial records.
In response, Matthew F. Hale, the leader of World Church of the Creator, argued that the law was unconstitutionally vague and failed to define “charitable organization” and “charitable purpose.”
Justice Rita Garman acknowledged that the state’s law, which describes charitable organizations as formed for “benevolent, philanthropic, patriotic,” or other purposes, is broad. But the terms “charitable organization” and “charitable purpose” have clear definitions in Illinois law, and the law is constitutional, she said. The decision, which reverses a lower court’s ruling that the law is unconstitutional, allows the attorney general’s lawsuit to proceed.
