The IRS Scandal, Day 970

American Center for Law and Justice, ACLJ Forces IRS to Comply with the Law in Major Federal Lawsuit:

The ACLJ has secured an important victory in our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case against the IRS on behalf of Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire. After a year of litigation, which followed over four months of waiting for the IRS to respond to its FOIA request, we finally succeeded in compelling the IRS to comply with its obligations under federal law.

As we have previously written, Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire issued a FOIA request to the IRS in June 2014 seeking communications between two New Hampshire legislators and certain IRS officials, including Lois Lerner, the IRS’s Exempt Organizations Director who was at the center of the IRS Tea Party targeting scandal. Rather than search for and provide responsive documents within the statutory time period, the IRS sat on the request for months as the November 2014 elections approached. This delay blatantly flouted the very purpose of the Freedom of Information Act, as it prevented Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire from knowing whether these legislators had engaged in any communications with the IRS in which the New Hampshire public might be interested—and, if so, disseminating that information to voters prior to the November elections.

In order to get a response from the IRS, we filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire. While the IRS did perform a search and provide some responsive documents shortly thereafter, it was not at all clear that the agency had searched all sources reasonably likely to contain responsive records or that the records it refused to produce were properly withheld. After raising these issues with the court, we succeeded in forcing the IRS to provide the withheld documents to the court—essentially a means of providing the necessary assurances that the IRS had not withheld documents to which the organizations enjoyed a right of access. We also obtained an order from the court explaining that the IRS had failed to demonstrate the reasonableness (i.e., thoroughness) of its search for documents.

The upshot of the court’s order was that we would be heading to trial—a highly unusual occurrence in FOIA cases. On its own initiative, however, obviously realizing that its prior search was deficient, the IRS undertook two additional searches and provided the necessary information to Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire (and the court) to demonstrate the appropriateness of these new searches.

In short, the IRS finally decided to fully comply with its legal obligations under FOIA, providing Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire with the relief it had been seeking for nearly a year and a half.

We are pleased to have obtained this positive outcome for Citizens for a Strong New Hampshire and will continue to pursue litigation in federal appeals court on behalf of the numerous nonprofit organizations that are still seeking relief from the IRS’s unlawful targeting of conservative groups.

• The IRS Scandal, Day 969 (Jan. 3, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 968 (Jan. 2, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 967 (Jan. 1, 2016)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 966 (Dec. 31, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 965 (Dec. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 964 (Dec. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 963 (Dec. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 962 (Dec. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 961 (Dec. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 960 (Dec. 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 959 (Dec. 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 958 (Dec. 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 957 (Dec. 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 956 (Dec. 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 955 (Dec. 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 954 (Dec. 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 953 (Dec. 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 952 (Dec. 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 951 (Dec. 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 950 (Dec. 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 949 (Dec. 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 948 (Dec. 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 947 (Dec. 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 946 (Dec. 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 945 (Dec. 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 944 (Dec. 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 943 (Dec. 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 942 (Dec. 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 941 (Dec. 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 940 (Dec. 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 939 (Dec. 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 938 (Dec. 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 937 (Dec. 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 936 (Dec. 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 935 (Nov. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 934 (Nov. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 933 (Nov. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 932 (Nov. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 931 (Nov. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 930 (Nov. 25, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 929 (Nov. 24, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 928 (Nov. 23, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 927 (Nov. 22, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 926 (Nov. 21, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 925 (Nov. 20, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 924 (Nov. 19, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 923 (Nov. 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 922 (Nov. 17, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 921 (Nov. 16, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 920 (Nov. 15, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 919 (Nov. 14, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 918 (Nov. 13, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 917 (Nov. 12, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 916 (Nov. 11, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 915 (Nov. 10, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 914 (Nov. 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 913 (Nov. 8, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 912 (Nov. 7, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 911 (Nov. 6, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 910 (Nov. 5, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 909 (Nov. 4, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 908 (Nov. 3, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 907 (Nov. 2, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 906 (Nov. 1, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 905 (Oct. 31, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 904 (Oct. 30, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 903 (Oct. 29, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 902 (Oct. 28, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Day 901 (Oct. 27, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 801-900 (July 19, 2015 - Oct. 26, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 701-800 (April 10, 2015 - July 18, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 601-700 (Dec. 31, 2014 - April 9, 2015)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 501-600 (Sept. 22, 2014-Dec. 30, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 401-500 (June 14, 2014 - Sept. 21,2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 301-400 (Mar. 6, 2014 - June 13, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 201-300 (Nov. 26, 2013 - Mar. 5, 2014)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 101-200 (Aug. 18, 2013 - Nov. 25, 2013)
• The IRS Scandal, Days 1-100 (May 10, 2013 - Aug. 17, 2013)