As evidence of IRS wrongdoing mounts, it’s great to get some good news. Today, U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott rejected the IRS’s motion to dismiss the NorCal Tea Party’s class action lawsuit.
The government had the audacity to claim that citizens have no right to redress against their own government, regardless of the behavior of the IRS. The judge disagreed, stating that not only could the case go forward, but also setting up a status conference date, indicating that the case will not simply languish on the docket.
In other words, folks, the IRS is going to have to answer for its illegal conduct.
Beginning shortly after the tea party’s emergence in 2009, the IRS has been harassing and giving extra scrutiny to tea party, pro-Israel, and patriotic groups. This governmental intimidation was orchestrated by senior IRS officials and facilitated by the White House, congressional Democrats, and a cooperative mainstream media perfectly willing to look the other way.
In fact, that’s been one of my biggest disappointments. Liberals who presumably love freedom and dislike government oppression blatantly ignored what the Obama administration has done to these tea party groups, simply because the targets weren’t the right kind of people. I can only imagine the strong reaction of reporters and Democrats (oh, but I repeat myself) if this had happened to liberal groups under George W. Bush.
The IRS wrongdoing has become a Rorschach test for all Americans. Some look at and see the government agency’s admission of illegal harassment as intolerable and abhorrent – an assault on some of us, which is also an attack on all of us. Others, blinded by their own partisanship, believe there must be more to the story, in spite of the government’s own admissions.
Thankfully, an impartial judge decided it was time for justice.
Judge Dlott allowed our lawsuit to move forward with claims for declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as our key claim under Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code. Her actions speak louder than the collective deafening silence from the Left.
Our lawsuit will expose and hold accountable government officials who have intimidated law-abiding Americans. In addition, our lawsuit also aims to deter the IRS and other government agencies from engaging in illegal behavior without fear of being caught, exposed, and brought to justice.
Yes, it’s great to get good news, but there is a long road ahead. We’ve reached the end of the beginning of this case, and now the real work begins.
Mark Meckler is the President of Citizens for Self-Governance, which created the Sue the IRS project.
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