The Internal Revenue Service apparently is a long way from getting out from under complaints over its political targeting of Christians and tea-party conservatives during the 2012 presidential election run-up, over which it has been accused of improperly invasive questions, deliberate delays and political attacks.
A federal appeals court ruling on Friday ordered a lawsuit against the agency over the targeting back to a lower court, insisting that the federal bureaucracy prove that it has, in fact, stopped that targeting of tea party and other organizations.
A report in the Washington Times described the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as a "rebuke."
The court found the IRS "did, in fact, discriminate against tea party groups."
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The court said tea-party groups cannot sue individual IRS workers, such as Lois Lerner, who headed the nonprofits division of the IRS at the time the attacks were launched.
But the ruling said the IRS simply hasn't documented that it has stopped the inappropriate behavior.
The IRS claimed it has voluntarily stopped the offending actions, and wanted the lawsuit dismissed, but the Times said, "But Judge David B. Sentelle, writing for the appeals court, said that was clearly not the case because some organizations were still awaiting approval years after they applied. And he flatly rejected the IRS's explanation that those groups couldn't be processed because they were suing the IRS, calling that a classic catch-22."
The Times said he wrote, "The IRS is telling the applicants in these cases that 'we have been violating your rights and not properly processing your applications. You are entitled to have your applications processed. But if you ask for that processing by way of a lawsuit, then you can't have it.' We would advise the IRS: if you haven't ceased to violate the rights of the taxpayers, then there is no cessation. You have not carried your burden, be it heavy or light."
It was revealed that IRS agency workers at the time deliberately delayed processing applications for some groups that clearly were opposed to Barack Obama's agenda, preventing them from a full participation in the electoral process at the time.
The IRS investigators asked invasive questions, such as the subject of group members' prayers. They also tried to coerce groups into promises they would drop their opposition to the Planned Parenthood abortion business agenda.
A number of groups sued, and this is one of the biggest remaining cases.
WND reported in April Sentelle at that time had noted the IRS actions that "intruded upon the constitutional rights of tea-party groups by delaying their applications for nonprofit status, and by asking questions that went above and beyond what was necessary to process their paperwork."
"It's hard to find the IRS to be an agency we can trust," Sentelle said at the time.
The case was brought American Center for Law and Justice back in 2013 on behalf of about two dozen groups.
"The IRS and the federal government are not going to get away with this unlawful targeting of conservative groups," ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow said when the case began.
"The lawsuit sends a very powerful message to the IRS and the Obama administration, including the White House: Americans are not going to be bullied and intimidated by our government."
A report from an inspector general confirmed the allegations that hundreds of groups were targeted – and the common denominator was that they are conservative.
The ACLJ has explained a lower court had dismissed the constitutional violation claims of the groups, "opining that there was no remedy that the court could provide for the IRS's misconduct."
The appeals court then took an interest in what was going on.
At the time of the previous hearing, in April, the ACLJ reported, "As one judge on the panel today noted quite poignantly, it would be ignorant to ignore the egregious violations of U.S. citizens' rights that we have alleged in this case. The court today expressed particular interest in the two organizations who, after submitting their applications for exemption almost 6 years ago, are still awaiting a determination. When the court asked the IRS on what authority it continues to delay these organizations' applications, the IRS was unable to identify the source of this allegedly 'long-standing practice.'"