Judge Says Conservative Groups’ Lawsuits Against IRS Moot

The IRS has acknowledged that it subjected right-leaning groups applying for tax-exempt status to extra scrutiny. Some of these groups sued, but a federal judge dismissed those lawsuits this week. From Politico:

The IRS may have inadvertently figured out how to win its legal battles against aggrieved tea party groups: Give them what they wanted in the first place — tax-exempt status.

That was a major reason a Republican-appointed federal judge on Thursday threw out two lawsuits brought by more than 40 conservative groups seeking remedies for being singled out in the tea party targeting scandal, a victory for the IRS.

Judge Reggie Walton of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia dismissed almost all counts brought against the tax-collecting agency in two cases, ruling that both were essentially moot now that the IRS granted the groups their tax-exempt status that had been held up for years.

What about the damage the IRS might have caused these groups by delaying applications? Republican lawmaker Jim Jordan said, “You get targeted and harassed for three years but, oh, because you finally get [tax-exempt status], the three years of harassment doesn’t mean anything? I find that argument lacking tremendously in light of what these people went through.”

The IRS is a powerful government agency. Not only is it charged with tax collecting and reporting, it has the power to send Americans to prison. And thanks to Obamacare, the president’s bloated “health care reform” project, the enforcement agency has the authority to take money from our paychecks as a penalty for not buying health insurance. This power makes the IRS vulnerable to being wielded as a weapon for unscrupulous politicians.