FL voters...Time to Dump Rick Scott #39;s Tea Party Experiment
Thom Hartmann talks the Florida Governor #39;s race with America #39;s Lawyer - Mike Papantonio, Attorney-Levin Papantonio / Host-Ring of Fire Radio Website: http://www.ringoffireradio.com. If you liked...
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FL voters...Time to Dump Rick Scott's Tea Party Experiment - Video
The IRS may have inadvertently figured out how to win its legal battles against aggrieved tea party groups: Give them what they wanted in the first place tax-exempt status.
That was a major reason a Republican-appointed federal judge on Thursday threw out two lawsuits brought by more than 40 conservative groups seeking remedies for being singled out in the tea party targeting scandal, a victory for the IRS.
Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia dismissed almost all counts brought against the tax-collecting agency in two cases, ruling that both were essentially moot now that the IRS granted the groups their tax-exempt status that had been held up for years.
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Walton, a President George W. Bush-appointee, also said individual IRS officials could not be fined in their individual capacity for allowing such treatment because it could hurt future tax enforcement.
The ruling, which the groups could appeal, has serious implications for tea party groups suing the IRS, suggesting they may never receive compensation for the long waits they endured for a ruling on their status.
The inspector general report that ignited the targeting controversy last year found that applications sat in limbo for as long as several years and that the groups were asked inappropriate questions about their donors, political affiliations and random things like social media posts.
Republicans said they were outraged at Waltons decision.
(POLITICO's polling center)
You get targeted and harassed for three years but, oh, because you finally get [tax-exempt status], the three years of harassment doesnt mean anything? asked Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who heads a congressional subpanel investigating the controversy. I find that argument lacking tremendously in light of what these people went through.
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IRS notches win in tea party cases
A federal court shot down a tea party groups effort to permanently bar the Internal Revenue Service from targeting conservative groups for special scrutiny, issuing a ruling Thursday that says the tax agency has taken enough steps to correct the problem.
Judge Reggie B. Walton also refused the request by True the Vote, a Texas-based group that tries to combat election fraud, to make Lois G. Lerner and other current and former IRS employees pay a penalty for having blocked the groups tax-exempt status and made intrusive inquiries into the groups activities.
Without ruling on whether the initial targeting was unlawful, Judge Walton said there was no longer a case because the IRS eventually did approve tax-exempt status.
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True the Vote argued that the IRS was pressured into stopping the targeting but could restart it at any time. The group asked the court to issue an order prohibiting the IRS from targeting, but the judge declined.
The defendants grant of tax-exempt status to the plaintiff, and the defendants suspension of the alleged IRS targeting scheme during the tax-exempt application process, including remedial steps to address the alleged conduct, coupled with the reduced concern about the recurrence of objectionable behavior government actors convinces the court that the voluntary cessation exception is not applicable here, wrote Judge Walton, who was appointed to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by President George W. Bush.
A True the Vote spokesman didnt have an immediate comment when reached by phone Thursday. The IRS also didnt comment.
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True the Vote applied for tax-exempt status in 2010 but was not granted approval until last year. The groups mission is to try to clean up voter registration rolls and spot election fraud.
Catherine Engelbrecht said that after she founded the organization, the federal government took an extraordinary amount of interest in her business and her personal activities. Authorities from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration made inquiries with her or with King Street Patriots, another tea party group with which she was affiliated.
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Federal judge tosses tea party suit seeking permanent protection from IRS targeting
tea_party_rally_capitol_demint.jpg
Former Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., was at the podium, accompanied by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., left, when the tea party 'Continuing Revolution Rally' was photographed in 2011. (Evan Vucci, The Associated Press)
WASHINGTON - A federal judge Thursday dismissed two lawsuits by two Tea Party groups over what they said was extra IRS scrutiny over their applications for tax exempt status.
In throwing out one of the cases, filed by Linchpins of Libertyand 40 other groups, Washington D.C. District Court Judge Reggie Walton ruled that the IRS has offered assurances it is no longer subjecting Tea Party groups to special attention.
"Thus, the allegedly unconstitutional government conduct which has delayed the processing of the plaintiff's tax-exempt applications and spawned this litigation is no longer impacting the plaintiffs," Walton ruled.
Walton said the IRS approved the tax exempt application for one of the group's True the Vote on Sept. 26, 2013, making its case moot. The judge said he wasn't persuaded by True the Vote's argument that it could be audited later and "be singled out again for reasons unrelated to provisions of the Internal Revenue Code."
The judge also rejected monetary damages for True the Vote.
Walton ruled that two groups-- Patriots Educating Concerned Americans Now and the liberty Township Tea Party -- could pursue their litigation that the IRS had failed to meets its criteria of ruling on tax-exempt applications within 270 days.
Tea Party groups blasted Walton, an appointee of President George W. Bush, for his ruling.
"This ruling is offensive to every citizen who believes in equal treatment under the law," said FreedomWorks Executive Vice President Adam Brandon. "It doesn't matter when the IRS bullied conservative groups or if they stopped, the point is that it was done, and the IRS has to be held accountable. Today's decision was the legalization of federal bullying and unchecked discretionary authority, so long as agencies can play the waiting game long enough to correct their misdeeds."
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Judge dismisses two Tea Party group suits against IRS
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