Under Barack Obama’s regime, the Internal Revenue Service was weaponized to delay and deny required governmental permissions for conservative charitable organizations that wanted to sound off on his re-election campaign, which he won, to operate.
They were grilled over their donors, their beliefs, their prayers and much more. Applications were lost and required a second submission. Free speech was under fire.
That treatment was unlike other groups that promoted a liberal agenda
Eventually, the IRS was forced to confess, and it even settled a number of lawsuits over its actions.
But now a federal court has ruled that one of the components that appeared in that agenda is unconstitutional.
A report at the Washington Examiner points to a ruling from Washington, D.C., judge Jia Cobb.
The court found that a test used by the IRS, involving “facts and circumstances,” was unconstitutionally vague.
The ruling said an organization called Freedom Path could not be rejected by the IRS for its requested tax standing because of the failing in the federal process.
But it continued the case, as neither side, Freedom Path nor the IRS, had suggested a standard that could be imposed.
The judge said the IRS violated constitutional protections by denying the tax-exempt status the organization requested.
“The ruling held that the agency’s ‘facts and circumstances’ framework, an 11-part analysis derived from a 2004 IRS revenue ruling, fails to survive the heightened scrutiny required when government rules implicate First Amendment speech rights,” the report said.
Freedom Path, founded in Texas in during 2011, when Obama remained in control of the IRS, sought tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(4). Years later, the IRS denied the request.
Hellbound and Down 