In IRS’ tea party sifting, $3.5M offered

CINCINNATI — A federal judge Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a $3.5 million settlement of a lawsuit against the IRS over the targeting of tea party groups and other conservative organizations.

U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett set a July 10 hearing in Cincinnati on making the settlement final, and scheduled deadlines for claims and objections.

The Justice Department had announced last year that the case had been settled, pending approval of terms.

The lead plaintiff was the California-based Norcal Tea Party Patriots. The case swelled into a class-action suit by hundreds of groups.

The 2013 lawsuit during President Barack Obama’s administration was over treatment of conservative groups that said they were singled out for extra IRS scrutiny on tax-exempt status applications. Republican President Donald Trump’s Justice Department also settled a second lawsuit with an apology from the IRS.

The IRS admitted the targeting, in part by zeroing in on groups with words such as “tea party” or “patriot” in their names, resulting in delayed applications and improper questions about donors and religious practices, an inspector general’s report found.

In announcing that no one would be prosecuted, the Obama Justice Department said investigators found mismanagement but no evidence that political groups were targeted based on their viewpoints.