‘‘(5) the Constitution grants Congress any 
other lawmaking power. 
‘‘(f) JUDICIAL RELIEF.— 
‘‘(1) CAUSE OF ACTION.—A person or organiza-
tion may assert an actual violation of this section, 
or a credible threat of such a violation, as a claim 
or defense in a judicial, administrative, or arbitra-
tion proceeding and obtain appropriate relief against 
a government or accrediting agency, including attor-
neys’ fees. A State shall not be immune under the 
Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the 
United States from a claim under this section. 
‘‘(2) REMOVAL.—Any proceeding brought in a 
State court for which a claimant invokes this section 
as a claim, counterclaim, or defense may be removed 
by the claimant to the district court of the United 
States for the district and division embracing the 
place where such action is pending. 
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In section 1107: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘abridges’ means to diminish, 
burden, hinder, or obstruct. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘accreditation’ means the status 
of public recognition that an accrediting agency 
grants to an educational institution or program that 
meets the agency’s standards and requirements. 
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‘‘(3) The term ‘accrediting agency’ means a 
legal entity, or part of a legal entity, that conducts 
accrediting activities through voluntary, non-Federal 
peer review and makes decisions concerning the ac-
creditation or preaccreditation status of institutions, 
programs, or both. 
‘‘(4) The term ‘adverse action’ includes action 
that suspends, revokes, or withholds licenses, per-
mits, certifications, professional credentials, guaran-
tees, contracts, or cooperative agreements; denies or 
revokes scholarships, grants, loans, a tax exemption 
or tax-exempt status; denies access to government- 
sponsored facilities, activities, or programs; or that 
imposes any other penalty or denies an otherwise 
available benefit. Except for a violation of subsection 
(a)(1) of this section, adverse action does not include 
a State’s refusal to subsidize contracts, grants, 
loans, or cooperative agreements with exclusively 
State revenues because of noncompliance with State 
standards that, in purpose and effect, are neutral to-
ward religion and generally applicable. Commingled 
State and Federal revenues shall be deemed Federal 
revenues. Adverse action does include suspending, 
revoking, or withholding scholarships, grants, and 
loans, or access to government-sponsored facilities, 
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activities, or programs to qualified students or grad-
uates of religious educational institutions, notwith-
standing that the scholarships, grants, loans, facili-
ties, activities, or programs are funded with State 
revenues. 
‘‘(5) The term ‘government’ means— 
‘‘(A) a State, county, municipality, or 
other government entity created under the au-
thority of a State; 
‘‘(B) any branch, department, agency, in-
strumentality, or official of an entity listed in 
subsection (g)(5)(A); 
‘‘(C) any other person acting under color 
of State law; and 
‘‘(D) the United States, a branch, depart-
ment, agency, instrumentality, or official of the 
United States, and any other person acting 
under color of Federal law. 
‘‘(6) The terms ‘religion’ and ‘religious’ include 
all aspects of religious belief, observance, and prac-
tice, whether or not compelled by, or central to, a 
system of religion. 
‘‘(7) The term ‘religious corporation, associa-
tion, educational institution, or society’ include— 
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‘‘(A) a church, synagogue, mosque, temple, 
or other house of worship; 
‘‘(B) a nonprofit corporation, association, 
educational institution, society, or other non-
profit entity that is, in whole or in substantial 
part, owned, supported, controlled, or managed 
by a particular religion or by a particular 
church, denomination, convention, or associa-
tion of churches or other houses of worship; or 
‘‘(C) a nonprofit corporation, association, 
educational institution, society, or other non-
profit entity that holds itself out to the public 
as substantially religious, has as its stated pur-
pose in its organic documents that it is reli-
gious, and is substantially religious in its cur-
rent operations. 
‘‘(8) The term ‘religious educational institution’ 
means 
any 
organization 
covered 
by 
section 
703(e)(2). 
‘‘(9) The term ‘religious mission’ includes reli-
gious affiliation, religious tenets, religious teachings, 
and religious standards, including policies or deci-
sions related to such affiliation, tenets, teachings, or 
standards with respect to housing, employment, cur-
riculum, self-governance, or student admission, con-
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tinuing enrollment, or graduation, unless such affili-
ation, tenets, teachings, or standards result in invid-
ious discrimination on account of race, color, or na-
tional origin. 
‘‘(h) CONSTRUCTION.—This section shall supersede 
State or local law as provided for expressly herein. Noth-
ing contained in section 1107 shall be construed as indi-
cating an intent on the part of Congress to occupy the 
field in which this Act operates to the exclusion of State 
or local laws on the same subject matter.’’. 
SEC. 8. PRESERVATION OF TAX-EXEMPT STATUS. 
Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (26 
U.S.C. 1 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ before ‘‘Corporations, 
and community chest . . .’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(B)(i) For purposes of Federal law, any deter-
mination whether an organization is organized or op-
erated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, 
literary, or educational purposes or complies with 
legal standards of charity shall be made without re-
gard to the organization’s religious beliefs or prac-
tices concerning marriage, family, or sexuality, ex-
cept insofar as such practices pertain to race or 
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