Yesterday, in a major ruling, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rebuked the IRS over its targeting of conservative groups and said that it would have to face a lawsuit by two plaintiffs, reversing a lower court that had declared the dispute moot. The unanimous three-judge panel ruled that there is “little factual dispute” in the case and it is “plain…that the IRS cannot defend its discriminatory conduct on the merits,” that the wrongdoing included not only targeting itself but massively burdensome and intrusive examinations of targeted groups, and that despite the IRS’s claims to have ended the discriminatory treatment, there is evidence that it continues today. My new piece at Ricochet explains.
Sarah Westwood in the Washington Examiner also quotes me on the case: “This is a blistering rebuke to the IRS and its defenders.” Remember in June when the Washington Post ran an editorial dismissing this all as not much of a scandal? Here was my response then.
P.S. Kim Strassel passes the following along in her much-talked-about new book, The Intimidation Game: “So, yes, the president was saying—two months after the news broke—that the whole IRS thing was just a ‘phony scandal.’”
2 Comments
I seem to remember a different President who had a list of “enemies” compiled. He then tried to make the head of the IRS harass these people with audits but the head of the IRS refused. I also seem to recall that the Post played a significant role in bringing down this President, and they were quite righteous about the whole affair.
Hypocrisy is, perhaps, the defining Human trait. We should be disappointed, but in no way shocked, at the continued evidence that many (if not most) place Team above ethics.
It does not bode well for the current or future health of the Republic.