In a rebuke cheered by IRS-targeted conservative groups, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Internal Revenue Service to "quickly turn over the full list of groups it targeted so that a class-action lawsuit, filed by the NorCal Tea Party Patriots, can proceed." Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports:
The case stems from the IRS' decision in 2010 to begin subjecting tea party and conservative groups to intrusive scrutiny when they applied for nonprofit status.
An inspector general found several hundred groups were asked inappropriate questions about their members' activities, their fundraising and their political leanings. …
Tea party groups have been trying for years to get a full list of nonprofit groups that were targeted by the IRS, but the IRS had refused, saying that even the names of those who applied or were approved are considered secret taxpayer information. The IRS said section 6103 of the tax code prevented it from releasing that information.
Judge Kethledge, however, said that turned the law on its head.
"Section 6103 was enacted to protect taxpayers from the IRS, not the IRS from taxpayers," he wrote.
Certifying the class allows any of the more than 200 groups that were subjected to the criteria to join in the lawsuit. But until the IRS complies with the appeals court's ruling this week, the list of those groups is secret.
Now that the class has been certified, the case moves to the discovery stage, where the tea party groups' lawyers will ask for all of the agency's documents related to the targeting and will depose IRS employees about their actions.
Sources:
Court Rebukes IRS for Tea Party Targeting, Orders Release of Secret List, Stephen Dinan, Washington Times
Tea Party Activists Hail Federal Appeals Court Ruling Vs IRS, Dan Sewell, Associated Press