Conservative Group Wins IRS Case
June 8, 2019 at 12:00 a.m.
By Gary [email protected]
A federal judge ruled the IRS’s scrutiny of True the Vote Inc. justifies the awarding of attorney fees amassed during the group’s lawsuit. The judge came short of awarding the full $1.9 million the group was requesting, saying more proof is necessary.
This is according to reporting by David Hansen at law360.com.
TTV is a decidedly conservative organization that focuses on stopping voter fraud.
But here’s the stunner. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ruled Thursday that TTV deserved an enhanced award for attorney fees because the IRS admitted that the group’s application for tax exempt status had been singled out for its political views.
Let that sink in.
The IRS admitted the group was singled out for its political views.
The judge said, however, TTV failed to explain why its $1.9 million request was reasonable.
TTV now has to produce documentation supporting its attorney’s billing rates.
TTV sued the IRS in 2013, so I’m fairly confident they can justify $1.9 million for six years of wrangling with the IRS in federal court.
“As to the defendants’ underlying conduct, the court concludes that this conduct does in fact rise to the level of prelitigation bad faith sufficient to justify an award of attorneys’ fees above the ... statutory cap,” Judge Walton wrote.
According to Law360.com, in the settlement, the IRS admitted wrongdoing and apologized for its actions. The judge declared in his ruling then that “discrimination on the basis of political viewpoint in administering the United States tax code violates fundamental First Amendment rights.”
TTV’s attorney Brock Cordt Akers, of the Houston-based Akers Firm PLLC, told Law360.com the court’s decision “is a good day for justice in America. The judge found the IRS to be in bad faith for their conduct, and for that the barest minimum sanction they should face is to repay our attorney fees,” Akers said.
Not surprisingly, representatives of the IRS did not respond to Law360.com’s requests for comment.
Also representing TTV was James Bopp and Courtney Turner Milbank of the Bopp Law Firm PC in Terre Haute.
According to information from TTV, the decision marked the end of a battle that began in 2010, when federal government agencies including the IRS, DOJ, FBI, ATF and OSHA weaponized against True the Vote and its founder, Catherine Engelbrecht.
“Under Obama Administration leadership, the agencies leveled a barrage of attacks, including 23 audits, investigations and inquiries, against the group in an attempt to stop their work in election integrity,” the group said.
Engelbrecht said, “At the outset of this case, I testified before Congress and swore that I would never retreat or surrender. Today, I have fulfilled that oath. Thank you to all the citizens across the country who stood steadfastly beside us. We could not have done it without your support.”
But wait.
I seem to remember a time when if you said the IRS was targeting conservative groups you were labeled as some sort of right-wing conspiracy nut job.
No way the Obama administration would allow such things to happen. It was all just a big, fat lie cooked up by Republicans.
The mainstream media was fully on board with that narrative.
A 2017 piece on Newsweek.com under the headline “Remember The IRS Scandal? It Was Fake News All Along” starts out like this: “Do you remember ‘the IRS scandal?’ If you do, you remember a lie.
“Granted, it was an elaborate, innuendo-driven lie that many people repeated endlessly, trying to get you to believe that there was a scandal.
“But it was still a lie, and a damaging one at that.”
Or not.
That was the general concensus in the mainstream and it remains that way today. This is why you won’t see this judgment widely reported.
We certainly don’t want it widely known that the Obama IRS did, in fact, target at a conservative nonprofit group, now do we?
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A federal judge ruled the IRS’s scrutiny of True the Vote Inc. justifies the awarding of attorney fees amassed during the group’s lawsuit. The judge came short of awarding the full $1.9 million the group was requesting, saying more proof is necessary.
This is according to reporting by David Hansen at law360.com.
TTV is a decidedly conservative organization that focuses on stopping voter fraud.
But here’s the stunner. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton ruled Thursday that TTV deserved an enhanced award for attorney fees because the IRS admitted that the group’s application for tax exempt status had been singled out for its political views.
Let that sink in.
The IRS admitted the group was singled out for its political views.
The judge said, however, TTV failed to explain why its $1.9 million request was reasonable.
TTV now has to produce documentation supporting its attorney’s billing rates.
TTV sued the IRS in 2013, so I’m fairly confident they can justify $1.9 million for six years of wrangling with the IRS in federal court.
“As to the defendants’ underlying conduct, the court concludes that this conduct does in fact rise to the level of prelitigation bad faith sufficient to justify an award of attorneys’ fees above the ... statutory cap,” Judge Walton wrote.
According to Law360.com, in the settlement, the IRS admitted wrongdoing and apologized for its actions. The judge declared in his ruling then that “discrimination on the basis of political viewpoint in administering the United States tax code violates fundamental First Amendment rights.”
TTV’s attorney Brock Cordt Akers, of the Houston-based Akers Firm PLLC, told Law360.com the court’s decision “is a good day for justice in America. The judge found the IRS to be in bad faith for their conduct, and for that the barest minimum sanction they should face is to repay our attorney fees,” Akers said.
Not surprisingly, representatives of the IRS did not respond to Law360.com’s requests for comment.
Also representing TTV was James Bopp and Courtney Turner Milbank of the Bopp Law Firm PC in Terre Haute.
According to information from TTV, the decision marked the end of a battle that began in 2010, when federal government agencies including the IRS, DOJ, FBI, ATF and OSHA weaponized against True the Vote and its founder, Catherine Engelbrecht.
“Under Obama Administration leadership, the agencies leveled a barrage of attacks, including 23 audits, investigations and inquiries, against the group in an attempt to stop their work in election integrity,” the group said.
Engelbrecht said, “At the outset of this case, I testified before Congress and swore that I would never retreat or surrender. Today, I have fulfilled that oath. Thank you to all the citizens across the country who stood steadfastly beside us. We could not have done it without your support.”
But wait.
I seem to remember a time when if you said the IRS was targeting conservative groups you were labeled as some sort of right-wing conspiracy nut job.
No way the Obama administration would allow such things to happen. It was all just a big, fat lie cooked up by Republicans.
The mainstream media was fully on board with that narrative.
A 2017 piece on Newsweek.com under the headline “Remember The IRS Scandal? It Was Fake News All Along” starts out like this: “Do you remember ‘the IRS scandal?’ If you do, you remember a lie.
“Granted, it was an elaborate, innuendo-driven lie that many people repeated endlessly, trying to get you to believe that there was a scandal.
“But it was still a lie, and a damaging one at that.”
Or not.
That was the general concensus in the mainstream and it remains that way today. This is why you won’t see this judgment widely reported.
We certainly don’t want it widely known that the Obama IRS did, in fact, target at a conservative nonprofit group, now do we?
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