OPINION
This is аn action brought by parents of 25 black school children who attend public school in seven states, representing a nationwide class of “several million individuals.” Oral Argument, November 20, 1979. Plaintiffs maintain that Internal Revenue Service Regulations, promulgated pursuant to § 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, afford unlawful support to discrimination by granting tax exemptions to discriminatory private schools and tax deductions for gifts to such schools. Plaintiffs claim that by recognizing the schools as exempt from federal taxation, thе defendants have facilitated the development and operation and the provision of racially segregated educational opportunities for white children avoiding attendance in desegregating public schools. Complaint, ¶48. Plaintiffs further allege that the regulations permit schools to receive tax exemptions merely on the basis of adopting and certifying — but not implementing — a policy of nondiscrimination, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.Code § 2000e), the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (42 U.S.Code § 1981), and the Fifth and Fourteеnth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief requiring defendants to deny all applications for tax exempt status for, and to revoke all tax exemptions now held by, all private schools, or the organizations that operate them, which have insubstantial or nonexistent minority enrollments, which are located in or serve desegregating public school districts, and which:
(a) were established or expanded at or about the time the public school districts in which they are loсated or which they serve began desegregating; or
(b) have been determined in adversary judicial or administrative proceedings to be racially segregated; or
(c) cannot demonstrate that they do not provide racially segregated educational opportunities for white children avoiding attendance in desegregating public school systems. Complaint, ¶ 4.
On August 22,1978, the Internal Revenue Service published in the Federal Register a proposed modification of current procedures *793 (43 Fed.Reg. 37296). In responsе to public outcry against the proposed modifications, the Internal Revenue Service (hereinafter, “IRS”) modified its original proposal and submitted it for public comment on February 9, 1979. • On September 29, 1979, the 1980 General Appropriations Act became law. Included in this legislation were amendments (hereinafter, “Ashbrook and Dornan Amendments”) expressly forbidding the use of any funds for the “formulation or carrying out” of the February 9, 1979 IRS proposed guidelines. This action effectively retains, at least for one year, Revenue Procedure 75-50. This is the regulation attacked by plaintiffs as “inadequate to insure compliance with the Internal Revenue Code” and therefore “legally insufficient.” Complaint, ¶ 2.
For the following reasons, defendant’s Motion to Dismiss is granted and the “ Wright component” 1 of the case is dismissed in its entirety with prejudice: (A) the Wright plaintiffs lack standing to assert their claims; (B) the action, of the Wright plaintiffs is barred by the doctrine of nonreviewability; (C) recent Congressional action suggests that this Court should not fashion a remedy for the Wright plaintiffs. This Court concludes that each rеason is, in-and of itself, a sufficient justification for dismissal of plaintiffs’ action. Therefore, this Court finds it unnecessary to consider the issues of (1) state action; (2) sovereign immunity; (3) the applicability of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act; and (4) the applicability of the “indispensable party” Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
A.
THE WRIGHT PLAINTIFFS LACK STANDING TO ASSERT THEIR CLAIMS
Though the recent case law of standing is so dynamic and expansive as to almost defy codification, it appears to the Court that a claimant must independently satisfy each of four criteria in order to maintain standing to аssert its claim. First, the claimant must assert a distinct, palpable, and concrete injury. Second, this injury must be fairly traceable to defendant’s actions. Third, there must be a sufficient degree of certainty that the relief requested will remove the injury. Fourth, there must exist a sufficient degree of concrete adverseness between the plaintiff and defendant. In the instant case, the parents of the 25 black public school children must satisfy each criteria to maintain this action. It is the conclusion of this Court that they satisfy none of the criteria.
1. Plaintiffs fail to assert a distinct, palpable, and concrete injury.
In
Schlesinger v. Reservists to Stop the
War,
*794
Plaintiffs maintain that the IRS Regulations, as currently structured and administered, present two related injuries. First, the granting of tax exemptions to segregated schools invades plaintiffs’ Constitutional right to be free of government aid to and involvement with racial discrimination. Plaintiffs argue that
Norwood v. Harrison,
While each of these harms is theoretically plausible, there is no allegation in the record before the Court that the “target schools”
2
are actually discriminating in violation of the Constitution or federal law. If such an allegation were proven, this Court would have no difficulty ordering an end to the discrimination by the offending school, for the Supreme Court has forcefully held that no private school has any right at law to exclude, or otherwise discriminate against, Negroes on the ground of race.
Runyon v. McCrary,
2. Even if plaintiffs assert a distinct, palpable, and concrete injury, the injury is'not fairly traceable to the actions of the defendants.
If the plaintiff parents of 25 black public school children are injured, the injury is caused by the offending “target” private schools who are not parties to this action. There is no sufficient causal nеxus between the plaintiffs’ injury and the named defendants’ regulations.
*795
In
Simon v. Eastern Kentucky Welfare Rights Organization, 426
U.S. 26,
Two cases in this Circuit have employed similar analysis to deny standing where only an indirect connection is established. In
American Society of Travel Agents v. Blumenthal,
3. Even if the plaintiffs satisfied criteria 1 and 2, plaintiffs lack standing because there is a sufficient degree of speculativeness that thе relief requested will remedy the injury.
Presently, the IRS Regulations are based on an underlying policy that tax exemptions may not be granted to discriminatory private schools. Significant steps have been taken to implement this policy. In accordance with the 1971 Order in Green v. Connally, supra, the IRS promulgated Rev. Proc. 72-54 which required, in summary, that private schools adopt and administer in good faith a policy of nondiscrimination and publicize this policy to all racial segments of the community which they served. Defendants in 1975 proposed morе detailed and stringent guidelines and, after receiving comments from approximately 100 educational institutions and other interested parties, published the guidelines in final form as Rev.Proc. 75-50. This document sets forth the current administrative enforcement standards which defendants require all private schools to meet in order to demonstrate that they have nondiscriminatory policies and that they implement these policies in good faith. Each school is required to respond under penalty of perjury. 3
*796 On the surface, plaintiffs’ proposed guidelines appear to be significantly different than the current IRS procedure in that they shift the burden of proof onto the private schools to establish their innocence after their exemptions have been withdrawn by the IRS. The plaintiffs’ proposed guidelines require all “badge of doubt” schools (to be determined by plaintiffs’ three criteria, see p. 2, supra) to overcome a presumption of guilt. However, the record provides absolutely no indication that the criteria that thе IRS would employ under plaintiffs’ proposed remedy would be any different than those which are employed currently. Hence, it is purely speculative whether, in the final analysis, any fewer schools would be granted tax exemptions under plaintiffs’ system than under the current IRS system.
Furthermore, even if it were reasonable to assume that fewer exemptions would be available to “target” private schools under plaintiffs proposed guidelines, it is purely speculative that loss of these exemptions would produce any net change in the desegregation of a given school district (the second injury asserted by plaintiffs). It is by no means clear that these schools would not elect to forego the exemption in question rather than end any discriminatory conduct. It appears probable that many such schools have only limited dependence on these exemptions; indeed, even assuming substantial dependence, the schools might well choose to compensate by alternate means for financial benefits otherwise available from the exemptions. Clearly, under law firmly established by Eastern Kentucky, supra, plaintiffs lack standing because there is a sufficient degree of speculativeness that the relief requested will remedy the injury claimed by plaintiffs.
4. Even if plaintiffs satisfied criteria 1, 2, and 3, plaintiffs lack the necessary concrete adverseness to satisfy the case and controversy requirement of Article III.
Under plaintiffs’ proposed guidelines, all “target” schools would presumptively lose their tax exempt status until such time as they could prove to the IRS that they are not discriminating. If plaintiffs were to prevail, as of the day of the decree each of the 3500 “target” schools would lose legal rights to their exemption and deductibility status. Notwithstanding the ability of the schools to subsequently prove that they are within the law, they are not made parties to this particular action. Plaintiffs would deprive these schools of their valuable tax exempt status without ever giving the affected schools a day in court.
The defendant IRS, on the other hand, seems to have nothing to lose if it were forced to grant less tax exemptions to private schools. In fact, this Court observes that the named adversary parties in this action, the parents of the black public school children and the Internal Revenue Service, seem closely allied in terms of the need to promulgate future guidelines.
In
Baker v. Carr,
Given the present posture of the case, the complaint does not present a question in the adversary context, or in a form historically viewed as capable of judicial resolution.
Flast v. Cohen,
B.
THE ACTION OF THE WRIGHT PLAINTIFFS IS BARRED BY THE DOCTRINE OF NONREVIEWABILITY
Since an accurate assessment of plaintiffs’ aсtion would require this Court to undertake detailed or continuing review of a generalized IRS enforcement program, or to review complex issues of tax enforcement policy and of agency resource allocation, this Court holds that this instant suit is barred by the doctrine of nonreviewability-
Ever since the IRS issued regulations in response to Green v. Connally, supra, (40 Fed.Reg. 53409), the issue of their proper implementation and enforcement has been “a terribly complex and difficult problem.” Oral Argument, November 20, 1979. There have been lengthy administrative hearings and “over 100,000 written comments” (Oral Argument, November 20, 1979) concerning the two subsequent sets of modified regulations. 4 The September 29, 1979 passage of the Ashbrook and Dornan Amendments to the 1980 General Appropriations Act has had the effect of retaining the present Rev. Proc. 75-50 for at least one more year. Currently, therefore, the IRS regulatory scenario is in a significant state of flux. Since the parties admit that the present guidelines are in some way inadequate, the dispute seems to involve a choice among a number of proposed guidelines. Presented with this factual situation, this Court concludes that it would be inappropriate for it to fashion relief in this case. Such action would be tantamount to this Court becoming a “shadow commissioner of Internal Revenue” to run the administration of tax assessments to private schools in the United States. It is clearly inappropriate and unjustifiable for a federal court to become the administrator of a nationwide tax enforcement program.
Plaintiff proposes that this Court require the IRS to implement thrеe guidelines which the IRS would therefore be bound to administer and enforce. In order to assess the viability of IRS implementation and enforcement efforts, this Court would be required to analyze results from a significant number of schools. Even if, as plaintiffs contend, the Court need examine only a “representative number” of schools to gauge compliance, the effort would be unfathomable. The thrust of the complaint is that there are “thousands of . ra-
cially segregated independent private schools which oрerate in or serve desegregating public school districts.” Complaint, ¶ 20. Plaintiff further contends that there are more than 3,500 racially segregated private academies operating in the country having a total enrollment of more than 750,000 children. Complaint ¶20. It is clear that such review would impose grave burdens on this Court’s resources and would require the Court to exercise an extensive administrative expertise and to involve itself deeply in defendants’ practical day-today operations.
*798
Applicаtion of this doctrine of nonreviewability entails an analysis of the pragmatic consequences for the court itself and for the affected agency likely to result from the review being sought.
Panama Canal Co. v. Grace Line,
Plaintiffs cite á line of cases supporting the proposition that courts are required to review agency action when the harm involved is a “fundamental, Constitutional” one.
Johnson v. Robison,
C.
RECENT CONGRESSIONAL ACTION SUGGESTS THAT THIS COURT SHOULD NOT FASHION A REMEDY FOR THE WRIGHT PLAINTIFFS
On September 29,1979, the General Appropriations Act of 1980 (P.L. 96-74) became law. Section 615 of the Act, known as the Dornan rider, provides as follows: “None of the funds available under this Act may be. used to carry out proposed revenue procedure 4830-01-M of the Internal Revenue Service entitled ‘Proposed Revenue Procedure on Private Tax-Exempt Schools’ (44 F.R. 9451 through 9455, February 13, 1979, F.R. Document 79-4801), and proposed revenue procedure 4830-1 of the Internal Revenue Service entitled ‘Proposed Revenue Procedure on Private Tax-Exempt Schools’ (43 F.R. 37296 through 37298, August 22, 1978, F.R. Document 78-23515), or parts thereof.” Section 103 of the Act, known as the Ashbrook rider, is much broader, and provides as follows: “None of the funds made available pursuant to the provisions of this Act shall be used to formulate or carry out any rule, policy, procedure, guideline, regulation, standard, or measure which would cause the loss of tax-exempt status to private religious, or church-operated schools under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 unless in effect prior to August 22, 1978.” The effect of this recent action is to retain in effect, at least until September, 1980, the presently effective Rev.Proc. 75-50, which is the regulation attacked by plaintiffs as inadequate to insure compliance with the Internal Revenue Code and therefore “legally insufficient.” Complaint, ¶ 23.
This Court agrees that the Ashbrook and Dornan Amendments provide “a complete and total refutation of the contеntion . that existing regulations are legally insufficient, and that Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code requires adoption of the presumed-guilty-until-proven-innocent approach which requires of private schools *799 “proofs” of non-discrimination . . .” Second Supplemental Memorandum of Intervenor Wayne Allen in Support of Motion to Dismiss at 4. Congress has absolutely forbidden the IRS from adopting any new regulations concerning the tax-exempt status of private schools. If plaintiffs were to be granted the relief thеy seek in this case, it would be completely contrary to Congressional intent and policy. The actions by Gongress are the strongest possible expressions of the Congressional intent that Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code is not susceptible of the construction which plaintiffs would place upon it in this case.
As plaintiffs contend, the legislative history of the Ashbrook and Doman Amendments apparently allows a federal court to fashion a remedy in this area. However, this Court maintains that, in such an area ripe with legislative history and governmental regulation, 5 it is not the business of a federal court to explicitly thwart the will of Congress or to otherwise fail to carry it oút. This Court declines to fashion such a remedy.
In conclusion, this Court is of the opinion that (A) the Wright plaintiffs lack standing to assert their claims; (B) the action of the Wright plaintiffs is barred by the doctrine of nonreviewability; and (C) recent Congressional action suggests that this Court should not fashion a remedy for the Wright plaintiffs. Accordingly, the plaintiffs involved in the “Wright component” of the litigation are dismissed and judgment will be entered in favor of the defendants.
Notes
. This dismissal does not affect the stаtus of the “Green component” of the case (formerly C.A. 69-1355, consolidated with
Wright
on August 5, 1977). Though the cases are technically consolidated, the “jurisdictional” arguments which justify dismissal in
Wright
are irrelevant to the remaining issue in
Green.
This is true for two reasons. First, Judge Waddy explicitly denied the
Green
Motion to Dismiss on May 25, 1977 (before the cases were consolidated) rejecting, among other issues, the “jurisdictional” arguments. Second, on June 30, 1971, a three judge court enjoined the IRS from granting final exemption rulings to Mississippi schools until it supplemented the steps it had previously taken.
Green v. Connally,
. The complaint names only the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioner of Internal Revenuе as defendants. However, the complaint cites a number of schools as “examples” of unconstitutional IRS regulation and enforcement policy. “Private schools which are the subject of this complaint are those schools which have insubstantial or nonexistent minority enrollments and which are located in or serve desegregating public school districts.” Complaint, H 23. The complaint names a number of these “target schools”: Harding Academy, Southern Baptist Schools of Whitehaven, and Briarcrest Baрtist School System, Memphis, Tennessee; Montgomery Academy and St. James Parish School, Montgomery, Alabama; Prince Edward Academy, Prince Edward County, Virginia; Camelot Parochial School, Cairo, Illinois; Sea Pines Academy, Beaufort County, South Carolina; Bowman Academy and Holly Hill Academy, Orangeburg, South Carolina; River Oaks School, Monroe, Louisiana; Tallulah Academy and Delta Christian Academy, Madison Parish, Louisiana; Natchitoches Academy, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana; Hyde Park Academy, South Boston Heights Academy, and Parkway Academy, Boston, Massachusetts.
The complaint is also designed to include “thousands of other racially segregated independent private schools which operate in or serve desegregated public school districts and which have received, applied for, or will apply for, federal tax exemption.” Complaint, 11 19. Furthermore, plaintiffs argue that “it has been estimated that there are more than 3500 racially segregated private academies operating in the country having a total enrollment of more than 750,000 children.” Plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification at 2.
. In summary, the Rev.Proc. requires exempt private schools to meet the following requirements:
(1) The schools must formally state their nondiscriminatory policy in their organizational charter or similar instrument (Rev.Proc. 75-50, Sec. 4.01).
(2) The schools must set forth that policy in all brochures, advertisements, catalogues, fund solicitations and similar publications (Sec. 4.03);
*796 (3) The schools must either effectively publish that policy under specified, detailed guidеlines in newspapers (Sec. 4.03-l(a)), or broadcast media (Sec. 4.03-1 (b)); or, in the alternative, they must be able to demonstrate that they in fact have a significant minority enrollment or have meaningfully sought to recruit such an enrollment (Sec. 4.03-2);
(4) The schools must have a nondiscriminatory policy with respect to faculty, school programs, and tuition and scholarship practices (Secs. 4.04, 4.05);
.(5) They must certify all of the above under penalty of perjury (Sec. 4.06);
(6) The schools must provide specified information to defendants regarding the racial composition of their faculty and staff, the nondiscriminatory character of their tuition and scholarship policies, and the policies regarding race discrimination held by their incorporators, founders, board, and donors (Secs. 5.01-1 through 5.01-4; see also Secs. 4.07, 4.08); and
(7) The schools must keep records for three year periods from the year of compilation regarding racial composition of faculty and students, nondiscrimination in scholarship and tuition, and as well as retaining copies of all brochures, catalogues, and the like (Sec. 7).
. See p. 8, supra, for a more thorough discussion of the considerable IRS regulatory andt enforcement activities.
. See p. 8, supra, for a discussion of appropriate regulatory history.
