IRS Handed Defeat in Court Ruling Against Tea Party Group It Stiffed

Cortney O'Brien | November 06, 2016 9:08 AM

The Texas Patriots Tea Party emerged as victor in its case against the IRS. On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Michael R. Barrett ruled that the agency must process TPTP's application for tax exempt status after a long (and seemingly politically motivated) delay.

It's now clear the IRS segregated TPTP's application in 2012 because it was a conservative political organization. It was just one instance in a larger scandal in which the IRS targeted conservatives and unfairly stalled their applications.

The agency has insisted it no longer practices such political bias, yet the court said that doesn't solve TPTP's issue.

"Regardless of the fact the IRS purports to have stopped applying the inappropriate political advocacy criteria in 2013, the evidence is undisputed that the IRS continued to delay processing TPTP’s until August of 2016," the judge wrote in his decision."

Mark Meckler, president of Citizens for Self Governance, applauded the judge's decision.

"In the closing days of the election, we have further proof of deeply rooted corruption by Democrats," he said in a statement. "The federal judge in a class action funded by our organization (Citizens for Self-Governance) on behalf tea party and other conservative organizations, has ruled against the IRS in their Summary Judgment motion and in favor of Plaintiff Texas Patriots Tea Party on a request for a Preliminary Injunction. The Judge ruled that the plaintiff is likely to prevail on the merits in proving that IRS officials targeted American citizens for harassment based on their political beliefs."