The IRS said Monday that religious places of worship could endorse political candidates, undoing a decades-old ban on campaigning by tax-exempt groups.

The agency lifted the ban in a court filing to settle a lawsuit from two churches in Texas and an association of Christian broadcasters. The IRS and the plaintiffs asked a federal judge to order the Trump administration and future presidential administrations not to enforce the ban on political endorsements against the groups that sued, according to the New York Times, which reported the filing. 

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In court filings, the agency said it would not view political endorsements as campaigning but more so a private affair.

“Thus, communications from a house of worship to its congregation in connection with religious services through its usual channels of communication on matters of faith do not run afoul of the Johnson Amendment as properly interpreted,” the agency said in a motion filed jointly with the plaintiffs.

The case hinged on the Johnson Amendment, which restricts political activity from religious institutions that enjoy tax-exempt status. It was introduced in 1954 and is a part of the U.S. tax code that prevents tax-exempt organizations, including churches, universities, and nonprofit groups, from endorsing or opposing political candidates. 

If this amendment were violated, these institutions would have been at risk of losing their tax-exempt status. Enforcement of the amendment had been rare.

President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have been trying to overturn the amendment for years. Trump, in 2017, said he would “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment.

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The National Council of Nonprofits, which represents 30,000 groups, warned against the order, saying it could pave the way for political groups to disguise themselves as nonprofit groups.

Diane Yentel, the group’s president, said in a statement Monday that the move was “not about religion or free speech, but about radically altering campaign finance laws. The decree could open the floodgates for political operatives to funnel money to their preferred candidates while receiving generous tax breaks at the expense of taxpayers who may not share those views.”