The United States Catholic Conference et al. v. Abortion Rights Mobilization, Inc., et al., 1987 case revolved around the issue of whether or not the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should revoke tax-exempt status from religious organizations that engage in political lobbying activities. The Abortion Rights Mobilization group argued that the U.S Catholic Conference and National Conference of Catholic Bishops were violating their tax-exempt status by actively campaigning against abortion rights, a politically charged issue. However, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the church groups stating that as per Article III's "case-or-controversy" requirement for federal jurisdiction, plaintiffs must demonstrate a personal injury traceable to defendant’s allegedly illegal conduct and likely to be redressed by requested relief; which was not met here as IRS has broad discretion on enforcement decisions and its non-enforcement decision does not inflict meaningful injury upon plaintiffs.

In the dissenting opinion for UNITED STATES CATHOLIC CONFERENCE et al. v. ABORTION RIGHTS MOBILIZATION, INC., et al., Justice Blackmun argued that the majority had misinterpreted federal tax law and overstepped its judicial role by deciding on issues not presented in lower courts. He contended that the United States Catholic Conference (USCC) and National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) were indeed involved in substantial lobbying activities, which should disqualify them from receiving tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3). Furthermore, he criticized the majority's decision to dismiss Abortion Rights Mobilization’s standing based on speculative harm rather than concrete injury as required by precedent. In his view, this case represented a clear instance where taxpayers have suffered direct harm due to government action violating constitutional principles of separation between church and state.