Good Morning.

Sure, it's May 3 and not April 3, but I digress.


For a few years, I have been the titular head of a tax-exempt 501©(3) organization in this city. "Friends of Waltham Scouting" has long had an EIN under this rule.

As a youth-serving organization, it allows us to save a few dollars here and there on equipment purchases and other sundry purchases, and of course we are all-volunteer and donation-based, so the income of the organization is minimal at best. Of course, none of us receives any payment whatever except for the occasional patch or mug.

Like all things government, there is a lengthy process and a lot of forms to apply for such a status.

Once approved, your tax-exempt status isn't permanent. There are reporting and compliance requirements for the first three years, and failure to provide the necessary information may result in losing that status. Again - there's pages of what the consequences are.

Nowhere does it say that the President of the United States can declare your organization an "enemy of the state" and revoke your status at his own personal whim.

Harvard University is an interesting choice as a target. The school itself was founded in 1636, and predates the United States of America by 140 years. Indeed, five of the Founding Fathers graduated from there, including two of the most significant; John Hancock and John Adams.

Harvard Law was founded as a separate school in 1817, and over the ensuing two centuries has produced many legislators and justices. Four current members of the Supreme Court graduated from there, and many more prominent names from our history also received their Law Degree from the Crimson; among them Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Brandeis, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

This is a fight the First Felon cannot and will not win.