It was a very troubling hearing to watch. Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, who is leaving his job about three weeks earlier than planned, appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee today to answer questions about the ever-expanding scandal at the IRS - the decision to target hundreds of conservative groups - unlawfully focusing on them because of their ideological beliefs. Miller had nothing to offer. Nothing to help shed light on this very intrusive intimidation scheme carried ou... Continue Reading

Recently, Senator James Risch (ID) urged Under-Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to “make every effort you possibly can to secure” the freedom of American Pastor Saeed Abedini, his constituent. The exchange above occurred in a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this week. The State Department again pledged its ongoing efforts to secure his freedom. Under-Secretary Sherman’s words are an important reminder of the impact we can all have in securing Pa... Continue Reading

President Obama continues to fail to show leadership as this IRS scandal continues to expand. The resignation of acting IRS Commissioner Steve Miller does not solve any of the problems of this tainted and politically-driven agency. The announcement comes just hours after the IRS attempted to blame this abhorrent conduct on a couple of rogue IRS agents out of the Cincinnati office. The American people and our clients deserve much more. There are many questions that President Obama failed to add... Continue Reading

Right now, across this vast land, conservative Americans are doing social-media battle with their friends on the left. Since I manage our digital media for the ACLJ (in addition to doing lawyer stuff), I’m quite familiar with the equivalent of the AP Style Manual for Facebook commentary. So, in the spirit of clarity (and to have a little fun), I hereby present a “Facebook FAQ” on the IRS controversy written with questions we’ve seen and can all understand. (The ACLJ is r... Continue Reading

Lois Lerner is the director of the exempt organizations division at the IRS. Friday, she dropped a bombshell when she told reporters, that “absolutely inappropriate” actions were undertaken by “front-line people” located in Cincinnati who went rogue and searched out groups with “Tea Party” and “Patriot” in their tax exemption applications and then put those groups through a special, intrusive process. Now we have learned that Lerner knew about the... Continue Reading

It was difficult for me to read Bing West’s latest Corner post, in which he broke down the White House’s excuses offered for failing to even attempt to help the brave and embattled American civilians under fire in Benghazi. I can only imagine the fury of the soldiers and pilots who wanted to help, who were ready to help, and weren’t allowed to even try — even when no one knew how long the battle would last. There’s a word for that: betrayal. A good military improv... Continue Reading

The IRS’s spin continues to collapse. First they claimed the decision to target conservative groups came from low-level employees in one office. But yesterday we released documents proving that IRS inquiries came from offices in California (Laguna Niguel and El Monte), Ohio, and Washington, D.C. But it gets worse. The IRS also claims it abandoned the probes, but the abuse is ongoing. This letter arrived last month, from a “tax law specialist” in D.C. regarding an Albuquer... Continue Reading

The IRS in issuing its so-called apology for intentionally targeting conservative groups for onerous and unconstitutional inquiries said that the targeting was limited to “low-level” IRS agents in a single Cincinnati office. However, this does not square with the facts. The ACLJ represented 27 of these targeted conservative groups. Our targeted clients have received inquiry demand letters from IRS offices coast to coast. Below are a few of the letters targeted conservative groups... Continue Reading

American Pastor Saeed Abedini’s family was able to see him today during a prison authorized visitation, once again confirming that Pastor Saeed – a U.S. citizen – was indeed released from solitary confinement and returned to the general political prison population. Despite his suffering, Pastor Saeed’s faith continues to keep him alive. Other prisoners reportedly told Saeed’s family that when Pastor Saeed was released from solitary confinement, “he was glo... Continue Reading

Despite a so-called apology by the IRS for targeting Tea Party and other conservative groups during an election season, this rampant IRS abuse is still ongoing. On Friday, the IRS admitted to intentionally targeting groups with “Tea Party” and “patriot” in their names but claimed that this targeting was limited to a small group of “low level” staffers in one single Cincinnati office and that no senior IRS official was aware. However, it has now been revealed... Continue Reading