An additional 16 Tea Party and conservative organizations signed on to a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service filed in federal court in the nation’s capital on Monday, according to the class-action suit’s lead attorney.
Attorney Jay Sekulow, the founder and leader of the American Center for Law and Justice filed the amended lawsuit by adding an additional organizations, including a pro-life group, to the complaint.
According to Sekulow the addition groups brings the total number of organizations represented in the court challenge to 41.
Following the discovery that the IRS targeted groups seeking legal tax-exempt status whose names contained certain words such as “patriots,” “constitution,” and others, the ACLJ filed the initial lawsuit on May 29 on behalf of 25 organizations.
During his appearance on Fox News Channel on Monday, Sekulow continued to argue that top Obama Administration officials violated the constitutional rights of the groups by secretly targeting these organizations because of their political beliefs. Sekulow and many other observers say they believe Obama’s minions used the IRS during the 2012 election cycle to harass supporters of Obama’s opposition, Mitt Romney.
In a press conference and his released statement, Sekulow said:
“The floodgates opened after we filed our initial lawsuit. We have been contacted by many additional organizations that have been unlawfully targeted by the IRS – revealing that this unconstitutional scheme was pervasive and damaging to our clients. As Congress continues its investigation, and as we expand our federal lawsuit, we’re confident that the truth will be revealed and important questions answered: How did this targeting scheme begin? Who ordered it? How could the White House counsel and White House chief of staff know about this tactic but the President did not? We remain dedicated to ensuring that those responsible for this unconscionable scheme are held accountable.”
The amended ACLJ complaint alleges that officials from the IRS “working in offices from California to Washington, D.C., pulled applications from conservative organizations, delayed processing those applications for sometimes well over a year, then made probing and unconstitutional requests for additional information that often required applicants to disclose, among other things, donor lists, direct and indirect communications with members of legislative bodies, Internet passwords and usernames, copies of social media and other Internet postings, and even the political and charitable activities of family members.”
Among the organizations added to the complaint is an anti-abortion group allegedly singled out because of its opposition to the Obama abortion agenda.
“The ACLJ contends the group, AMEN (Abortion Must End Now) – based in Yuma, AZ – was singled out because of its name and because the group is “focused on defending the Sanctity of Life and to put an end to abortion once and for all” and intends to “provide education . . . about the effects of abortion and to present pro-life brochures,” noted Sekulow.
Jay Sekulow has argued 12 cases before the United States Supreme Court since 1983. He only lost one case.
Sekulow’s amended lawsuit urges the federal court “to find that the Obama Administration overstepped its authority and violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act, as well as the IRS’s own rules and regulations.”
“The lawsuit requests a declaratory judgment that the defendants unlawfully delayed and obstructed the organizations’ applications for a determination of tax-exempt status by means of conduct that was based on unconstitutional criteria and impermissibly disparate treatment of the groups,” Sekulow said in his statement.
SOURCE http://www.albanytribune.com/26062013-more-organizations-join-legal-battle-against-irs%E2%80%8F/
Attorney Jay Sekulow, the founder and leader of the American Center for Law and Justice filed the amended lawsuit by adding an additional organizations, including a pro-life group, to the complaint.
According to Sekulow the addition groups brings the total number of organizations represented in the court challenge to 41.
Following the discovery that the IRS targeted groups seeking legal tax-exempt status whose names contained certain words such as “patriots,” “constitution,” and others, the ACLJ filed the initial lawsuit on May 29 on behalf of 25 organizations.
During his appearance on Fox News Channel on Monday, Sekulow continued to argue that top Obama Administration officials violated the constitutional rights of the groups by secretly targeting these organizations because of their political beliefs. Sekulow and many other observers say they believe Obama’s minions used the IRS during the 2012 election cycle to harass supporters of Obama’s opposition, Mitt Romney.
In a press conference and his released statement, Sekulow said:
“The floodgates opened after we filed our initial lawsuit. We have been contacted by many additional organizations that have been unlawfully targeted by the IRS – revealing that this unconstitutional scheme was pervasive and damaging to our clients. As Congress continues its investigation, and as we expand our federal lawsuit, we’re confident that the truth will be revealed and important questions answered: How did this targeting scheme begin? Who ordered it? How could the White House counsel and White House chief of staff know about this tactic but the President did not? We remain dedicated to ensuring that those responsible for this unconscionable scheme are held accountable.”
The amended ACLJ complaint alleges that officials from the IRS “working in offices from California to Washington, D.C., pulled applications from conservative organizations, delayed processing those applications for sometimes well over a year, then made probing and unconstitutional requests for additional information that often required applicants to disclose, among other things, donor lists, direct and indirect communications with members of legislative bodies, Internet passwords and usernames, copies of social media and other Internet postings, and even the political and charitable activities of family members.”
Among the organizations added to the complaint is an anti-abortion group allegedly singled out because of its opposition to the Obama abortion agenda.
“The ACLJ contends the group, AMEN (Abortion Must End Now) – based in Yuma, AZ – was singled out because of its name and because the group is “focused on defending the Sanctity of Life and to put an end to abortion once and for all” and intends to “provide education . . . about the effects of abortion and to present pro-life brochures,” noted Sekulow.
Jay Sekulow has argued 12 cases before the United States Supreme Court since 1983. He only lost one case.
Sekulow’s amended lawsuit urges the federal court “to find that the Obama Administration overstepped its authority and violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act, as well as the IRS’s own rules and regulations.”
“The lawsuit requests a declaratory judgment that the defendants unlawfully delayed and obstructed the organizations’ applications for a determination of tax-exempt status by means of conduct that was based on unconstitutional criteria and impermissibly disparate treatment of the groups,” Sekulow said in his statement.
SOURCE http://www.albanytribune.com/26062013-more-organizations-join-legal-battle-against-irs%E2%80%8F/
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