Tea Party Groups Lose Lawsuit Against IRS

[Webster]

...score one for the U.S. government!

WASHINGTON -- A federal court dismissed two lawsuits against the Internal Revenue Service Thursday, ruling that the tax agency is no longer targeting conservative tax-exempt groups for greater scrutiny. "Unless an actual, ongoing controversy exists in this case, this court is without power to decide it," U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton ruled, dismissing one lawsuit brought by True the Vote, a conservative vote-monitoring organization.

True the Vote, an offshoot of the Tea Party-affiliated King Street Patriots, had its application as a social welfare group help up because the IRS suspected it was engaging in direct political election campaigning, which is forbidden under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code. IRS agents found that its web site contained "Democratic attacks and Republican/conservative response," according to confidential IRS documents obtained by USA TODAY.

Walton said the IRS has assured the public that they're no longer screening applications for tax exemptions based on its political leanings, a practice that led to the dismissal of several top IRS officials when it was disclosed by Treasury inspectors last year.

"Thus, the allegedly unconstitutional governmental conduct, which had delayed the processing of the plaintiffs' tax-exempt applications and spawned this litigation, is no longer impacting the plaintiffs," Walton said in a second opinion dismissing a lawsuit brought by Linchpins of Liberty and 40 other groups in 22 states.

"The decision by the court is disappointing," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, which represented the plaintiffs in the Linchpins case. "However, it does not deter our efforts to seek justice for our clients. We are reviewing the decision and plan to appeal."

Sekulow said many of his clients are still being held up: 28 organizations received tax-exempt status after lengthy delays, seven are pending, and five withdrew their applications out of frustration. He said another group had its tax exemption denied after refusing to answer questions it considered unconstitutional.

In a footnote, the judge did leave open the possibility that two groups -- Patriots Educating Concerned Americans Now of Redding, Calif. and the suburban Cincinnati Liberty Township Tea Party -- could still sue because the IRS failed to rule on their tax exemption application within 270 days. The judge gave the IRS 14 days to argue why that element of the lawsuit cannot go forward.

Because he dismissed the lawsuits on procedural grounds, Walton did not rule on the merits of the case. He wrote in a footnote: "The court's opinion should not be interpreted as an assessment of the propriety of the alleged conduct by the defendants."

True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said in a statement that she was "stunned and disappointed" in the court's ruling.

Walton was nominated as a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, by President George W. Bush in 2001.

The IRS admitted last year that it delayed the approval of tax exemptions for Tea Party groups based solely on the name of the group. Several criminal and congressional investigations into the matter are still ongoing, and the former IRS official responsible for exempt organizations, Lois Lerner, has been found in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about the targeting.(USA Today)

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

...score one for the U.S. government!

WASHINGTON -- A federal court dismissed two lawsuits against the Internal Revenue Service Thursday, ruling that the tax agency is no longer targeting conservative tax-exempt groups for greater scrutiny. "Unless an actual, ongoing controversy exists in this case, this court is without power to decide it," U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton ruled, dismissing one lawsuit brought by True the Vote, a conservative vote-monitoring organization.

True the Vote, an offshoot of the Tea Party-affiliated King Street Patriots, had its application as a social welfare group help up because the IRS suspected it was engaging in direct political election campaigning, which is forbidden under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code. IRS agents found that its web site contained "Democratic attacks and Republican/conservative response," according to confidential IRS documents obtained by USA TODAY.

Walton said the IRS has assured the public that they're no longer screening applications for tax exemptions based on its political leanings, a practice that led to the dismissal of several top IRS officials when it was disclosed by Treasury inspectors last year.

"Thus, the allegedly unconstitutional governmental conduct, which had delayed the processing of the plaintiffs' tax-exempt applications and spawned this litigation, is no longer impacting the plaintiffs," Walton said in a second opinion dismissing a lawsuit brought by Linchpins of Liberty and 40 other groups in 22 states.

"The decision by the court is disappointing," said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, which represented the plaintiffs in the Linchpins case. "However, it does not deter our efforts to seek justice for our clients. We are reviewing the decision and plan to appeal."

Sekulow said many of his clients are still being held up: 28 organizations received tax-exempt status after lengthy delays, seven are pending, and five withdrew their applications out of frustration. He said another group had its tax exemption denied after refusing to answer questions it considered unconstitutional.

In a footnote, the judge did leave open the possibility that two groups -- Patriots Educating Concerned Americans Now of Redding, Calif. and the suburban Cincinnati Liberty Township Tea Party -- could still sue because the IRS failed to rule on their tax exemption application within 270 days. The judge gave the IRS 14 days to argue why that element of the lawsuit cannot go forward.

Because he dismissed the lawsuits on procedural grounds, Walton did not rule on the merits of the case. He wrote in a footnote: "The court's opinion should not be interpreted as an assessment of the propriety of the alleged conduct by the defendants."

True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said in a statement that she was "stunned and disappointed" in the court's ruling.

Walton was nominated as a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, by President George W. Bush in 2001.

The IRS admitted last year that it delayed the approval of tax exemptions for Tea Party groups based solely on the name of the group. Several criminal and congressional investigations into the matter are still ongoing, and the former IRS official responsible for exempt organizations, Lois Lerner, has been found in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about the targeting.(USA Today)

So because the IRS has gone more underground on attacking groups our dear leader deems a threat the judge thinks there is nothing to go to court over. As I have said if our justice system does not crack down on this they will be sorry if a conservative gets in office looking for revenge and there is no judicial system to stop him also. Both sides are just going to look for how many bodies can they pile up. This is the kind of stuff that leads to civil unrest and civil wars.

 

[Webster]

So because the IRS has gone more underground on attacking groups our dear leader deems a threat the judge thinks there is nothing to go to court over. As I have said if our justice system does not crack down on this they will be sorry if a conservative gets in office looking for revenge and there is no judicial system to stop him also. Both sides are just going to look for how many bodies can they pile up. This is the kind of stuff that leads to civil unrest and civil wars.

You do realize the IRS went after liberal & progressive groups as well, Liberty...right?

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

So because the IRS has gone more underground on attacking groups our dear leader deems a threat the judge thinks there is nothing to go to court over. As I have said if our justice system does not crack down on this they will be sorry if a conservative gets in office looking for revenge and there is no judicial system to stop him also. Both sides are just going to look for how many bodies can they pile up. This is the kind of stuff that leads to civil unrest and civil wars.

You do realize the IRS went after liberal & progressive groups as well, Liberty...right?

Baloney!

New Oversight Report Debunks Myth that Liberal Groups were Targeted by IRS
April 7, 2014

WASHINGTON – Today, as part of the ongoing investigation into the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., released a Committee staff report titled, “Debunking the Myth that the IRS Targeted Progressives: How the IRS and Congressional Democrats Misled America about Disparate Treatment.”

“[T]he Administration and congressional Democrats have seized upon the notion that the IRS’s targeting was not just limited to conservative applicants,” the report states. “These Democratic claims are flat-out wrong and have no basis in any thorough examination of the facts. Yet, the Administration’s chief defenders continue to make these assertions in a concerted effort to deflect and distract from the truth about the IRS’s targeting of tax-exempt applicants.”

“[T]here is simply no evidence that any liberal or progressive group received enhanced scrutiny because its application reflected the organization’s political views.”

Among the key findings of the report:

IRS’s three “test” cases were all conservative organizations: Prescott Tea Party, American Junto, the Albuquerque Tea Party. (pp. 14-18)

Congressional Democrats made misleading claims about the targeting. Democratic Members of Congress, including Ranking Member Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member Sander Levin, and Representative Gerry Connolly, made misleading claims that the IRS targeted liberal-oriented groups based on documents selectively produced by the IRS. (pp. 7-13)

IRS selectively released documents supporting the misleading claims. The IRS cited 6103 protections for taxpayer information to withhold details about the targeting from the American public, but reversed its decision in August 2013 to release information helpful to its cause. (pp. 11)

MYTH: Progressive groups were also targeted.Only seven applications in the IRS backlog contained the word “progressive,” all of which were then approved by the IRS, while Tea Party groups received unprecedented review and experienced years-long delays. While some liberal-oriented groups were singled out for scrutiny, evidence shows it was due to non-political reasons. (pp. 32-35)http://oversight.house.gov/release/new-oversight-report-debunks-myth-liberal-groups-targeted-irs/

 

[Webster]

Baloney!

...and you, sir, would be full of it...

A series of IRS documents, provided to ThinkProgress under the Freedom of Information Act, appears to contradict the claims by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and his House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that only Tea Party organizations applying for tax-exempt status “received systematic scrutiny because of their political beliefs.” The 22 “Be On the Look Out” keywords lists, distributed to staff reviewing applications between August 12, 2010 and April 19, 2013, included more explicit references to progressive groups, ACORN successors, and medical marijuana organizations than to Tea Party entities.

The IRS provided the heavily-redacted lists to ThinkProgress, after nearly a year-long search. From the earliest lists through 2012, the “historical” section of the lists encouraged reviewers to watch out for “progressive” groups with names like “blue,” as their requests for 501(c)(3) charitable status might be inappropriate. Their inclusion in this section suggests that the concern predates the initial 2010 list.

Explicit references to “Tea Party,” included in the “emerging issues” section of the lists, also began in August 2010 — but stopped appearing after the May 10, 2011 list. From that point on, the lists instructed agents to flag all political advocacy groups of any stripe. The documents instructed the agents to forward any “organization involved with political, lobbying, or advocacy” applying for 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) status be forwarded to “group 7822″ for additional review. Groups under both categories are limited in the amount of of lobbying and political activity each can undertake.

Other types of groups received explicit scrutiny for longer than “progressive” or “Tea Party” organizations. These included applicants involved with “medical marijuana” but not “exclusively education” (19 appearances in the “watch list” section of the lists), which were to be forwarded to a “group 7888″ and groups believed to be possible successor-groups to ACORN, the now-shuttered Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (12 appearances on the “watch list” section). Those applications were also to be elevated to managers for further review. All 22 documents also flagged applicants with Puerto Rico addresses and certain types of “Testamentary Trusts.”

Last year, the IRS acknowledged that it had improperly flagged groups applying for tax-exempt status for additional scrutiny if they contained common Tea Party keywords in their applications. Rather than addressing the very real problem of political committees masquerading as 501(c)(4) groups to evade public disclosure laws, this approach instead delayed the process for several groups purely on the basis of their names. President Obama and members of both parties in Congress all agree that the IRS acted improperly in singling-out certain groups for more scrutiny than others.

In Issa’s committee’s recent report, “Debunking the Myth that the IRS Targeted Progressives,” the Republican majority staffers wrote that while the Be On the Lookout lists’ language was “changed to broader ‘political advocacy organizations,’ the IRS still intended to identify and single out Tea Party applications for scrutiny.” The report goes to great lengths to distinguish the different types of scrutiny provided to each of these types of flagged group. But the actual IRS records indicate that at least some additional scrutiny was required for groups of all types that had names that sounded political — and that the explicit heightened scrutiny for left-leaning groups was even longer-standing than for Tea Party groups.

IRS disclosure manager Bertrand Tzeng noted, in a letter, that these 22 released documents “constitute the set of criteria that were used by IRS employees and which were produced to the investigating congressional committees.” Tzeng added that while his office has been informed that “draft versions of some of these documents may also exist, we understand that such drafts would be exempt from disclosure under FOIA exemption” as simply part of the agency’s deliberative process.(Think Progress)

...and given Darrell Issa's shady past, he's not someone who should be lecturing the IRS on issues of right & wrong......but please, proceed, Liberty.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

Congressman Trey Gowdy and the hearings debunked those outright lies on the first day. But you keep believing those fairy tales for when and if the tables get reversed.

 

[Webster]

Congressman Trey Gowdy and the hearings debunked those outright lies on the first day. But you keep believing those fairy tales for when and if the tables get reversed.

Isn't that why there's things such as executive privilege, plausible denibility, paper shredders and other such...and no, Darrell Issa - and most every Republican in Congress - wouldn't know either reality or honestly if it bit 'em in the ass.

 

[Webster]

...and let me add this as well, Liberty: given Trey Gowdy's willingness to serve as Darrell Issa's hatchet man on the Oversight Committee, no one expects the truth to emerge from whatever passes for a Select Committee of his...

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

With Tray Gowdy the truth is already emerging. We have seen very clearly what the president and his henchmen were making the IRS do. Honest politicians are rare as gold but Tray is one of the honest ones.

 

[Webster]

With Tray Gowdy the truth is already emerging. We have seen very clearly what the president and his henchmen were making the IRS do. Honest politicians are rare as gold but Tray is one of the honest ones.

He - along with every Republican in Congress - wouldn't know the truth if it bit them in the rear...here's hoping they get stonewalled at every opportunity.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

With Tray Gowdy the truth is already emerging. We have seen very clearly what the president and his henchmen were making the IRS do. Honest politicians are rare as gold but Tray is one of the honest ones.

He - along with every Republican in Congress - wouldn't know the truth if it bit them in the rear...here's hoping they get stonewalled at every opportunity.

But every single democrat is good to go. Right? Anything to protect the democrats. And we wonder why the parties are hated so much when people will protect the parties at all costs.

 

[Webster]

With Tray Gowdy the truth is already emerging. We have seen very clearly what the president and his henchmen were making the IRS do. Honest politicians are rare as gold but Tray is one of the honest ones.

He - along with every Republican in Congress - wouldn't know the truth if it bit them in the rear...here's hoping they get stonewalled at every opportunity.

But every single democrat is good to go. Right? Anything to protect the democrats. And we wonder why the parties are hated so much when people will protect the parties at all costs.

Politics ain't beanbag..and when it comes to Republicans, Liberty...well, let's just say Lee Atwater was but a mere piker compared to what Democrats' and their allies should do towards Republicans (and conservatives, for that matter)...

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

With Tray Gowdy the truth is already emerging. We have seen very clearly what the president and his henchmen were making the IRS do. Honest politicians are rare as gold but Tray is one of the honest ones.

He - along with every Republican in Congress - wouldn't know the truth if it bit them in the rear...here's hoping they get stonewalled at every opportunity.

But every single democrat is good to go. Right? Anything to protect the democrats. And we wonder why the parties are hated so much when people will protect the parties at all costs.

Politics ain't beanbag..and when it comes to Republicans, Liberty...well, let's just say Lee Atwater was but a mere piker compared to what Democrats' and their allies should do towards Republicans (and conservatives, for that matter)...

And I ask again.....But every single democrat is good to go. Right? Anything to protect the democrats. And we wonder why the parties are hated so much when people will protect the parties at all costs.

 

[DrLeftover]

Both major parties are cesspools of corruption at this point.