Federal Judge Sides With IRS, Dismisses Lawsuits by Conservative Groups Over Targeting Scandal

From the 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.”’ 

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."

The ruling is absolutely absurd, because it does not take into account the purpose of the targeting.

The purpose of the targeting was to change the outcome of the 2012 election.

The purpose of the targeting was to shut down Conservative groups, so their voice would not be heard during the 2012 election season.

The Targeting fulfilled it's purpose. The targeting was successful.

You can't walk it back at this point. The only thing that can be done is to punish the wrongdoers.

Because the Judge admitted there was targeting, he is remiss in Judgment and fraudulently so. This is a delinquency of Justice.

“Obviously, this ruling is stunning, and we intend to appeal,” Kookogey told The Daily Signal today, adding: The court appears to believe that tossing a life-preserver to a swimmer who has already drowned can magically revive the dead, or that the government’s promise not to hurt anyone in the future releases it from liability for past harms. 

Although True the Vote, Linchpins of Liberty and more than three dozen other groups argued there is no guarantee the IRS would not target conservative groups again, Walton ruled that the “prospect of future harm is speculative.” 

Von Spakovsky, the Heritage legal fellow, disagreed. 

“Given the unapologetic behavior of Lois Lerner and other IRS officials, and their total lack of remorse, I don’t think it’s ‘speculative’ that this could happen again in the future,” he said.Kookogey said he was baffled by the judge’s logic. 

“My constitutional rights were violated at the moment the IRS first began to unlawfully obstruct and delay my application for tax-exempt status back in 2011,” Kookogey said. 

“Granting my status three years later — after we filed the complaint and moments before the government was required to file an answer — does not undo that harm or render our claims moot.”