Settling IRS ‘right-bias’ suits
THE DEPARTMENT of Justice is settling lawsuits brought against the Internal Revenue Service for “improperly” delaying nonprofit status to conservative groups.
The IRS is apologizing to the tea party and right-wing groups as part of the proposed settlement agreements outlined in court filings Wednesday.
“The IRS’ use . . . of heightened scrutiny was wrong and should never have occurred,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “It is improper for the IRS to single out groups for different treatment based on their names or ideological positions.”
The groups suing agreed to dismiss the case if a judge declared it was illegal to apply tax laws based on an organization’s name or political stance.
The settlement was hailed by one of President Trump’s personal lawyers, Jay Sekulow, who was representing some of the plaintiffs in the case.
“This consent order represents a historic victory for our clients and sends the unequivocal message that a government agency’s targeting of conservative organizations, or any organization, on the basis of political viewpoints, will never be tolerated,” Sekulow said.
Under the Obama administration, the IRS submitted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status to intensive scrutiny, in part by zeroing in on groups with words like “Tea Party” or “Patriot” in their names.