No justice for those targeted by the IRS

Daily Signal:
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., sided today with the Internal Revenue Service and dismissed lawsuits by tea party organizations seeking redress for improper delays and scrutiny of their applications for tax-exempt status.

District Judge Reggie B. Walton ruled that two lawsuits by True the Vote and Linchpins of Liberty, along with 41 other conservative organizations, were moot because the IRS took steps to address the scandal and “publicly suspended its targeting scheme.”’

“It’s a disappointing ruling because it basically leaves targets of bad behavior by the IRS without a remedy,” Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal.

>>> Commentary: The Wrongdoers at the IRS Get Away With It

Walton, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, decided that because the organizations eventually won tax-exempt status, they had remedied any wrongdoing. (His two rulings are below.)

“We are stunned by today’s judgment,” True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht said. “The notion that the IRS can target Americans for years because of their political beliefs is reprehensible.”

Engelbrecht also told The Daily Signal:

The court acknowledges in its opinion that the IRS did in fact target True the Vote for our perceived political beliefs, but then it holds that neither the agency nor the individual IRS agents or officers are responsible for this unconstitutional conduct. Right now, we are considering all legal options and will announce our next steps very soon.
...
At a minimum the parties should be reimbursed for all the bad faith audits and the time lost to the harassments.   They have suffered real economic damage and the denial of rights for which they should be compensated.

Another reason the suits should go forward is to find out more about the politicians who drove this scandal in Congress and the administration.

If the parties are not going to get justice in teh courts, then it is even more important that Congress continue to get to the bottom of this scandal.

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