A conservative group, on Wednesday, took to court in an ongoing lawsuit that seeks to challenge the same provisions that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had previously used against right-leaning groups seeking nonprofit status over a decade ago.
This case serves as a stark reminder of the IRS's long-standing history of being weaponized by the permanent bureaucracy against conservative organizations and donors.
However, with Billy Long at the helm as the IRS commissioner, the Trump administration is presented with a unique opportunity to deal a significant blow against blatant partisanship and lawfare operations orchestrated by the permanent bureaucracy.
According to The Federalist, the DOGE initiative marked a promising start to the extensive campaign against waste, fraud, and abuse. However, these victories risk being rendered meaningless if the openly hostile, corrupt, and partisan executive agencies remain unscathed. Long is undoubtedly aware that the lawfare operations used to target President Trump were, at the very least, inspired by the successful IRS targeting of conservative groups during the Obama administration.
Under the leadership of Lois Lerner, the IRS unjustly denied conservative groups tax-exempt status based on their political leanings. In the subsequent investigation, Lerner, who served as the director of the IRS's Exempt Organizations Unit, confessed to targeted denials for otherwise deserving organizations due to their conservative leanings.
Lerner resigned in disgrace in 2013, but the scandal had little to no impact on the agency. Instead of following her out of the agency, many of her co-conspirators remained and have since climbed up the ranks. It is hardly surprising that many other IRS employees with enforcement authority, who are serial Democrat donors, openly express their opposition to the Trump administration and support Democrat policies on social media. In fact, an anti-conservative bias appears to be a key factor in advancing within the agency.
A decade of lawfare against conservatives is simply too long. The benefit of the doubt can no longer be extended to partisan bureaucrats. If Trump and Long wish to effect lasting reform and eliminate bias, there are a few problematic actors who must be removed:
Robert Choi, the acting commissioner of Tax-Exempt and Government Entities, was a deputy to Lois Lerner and participated in the initial wave of targeting conservative organizations. He served as the director of Exempt Organizations, Rulings and Agreements, when the IRS began targeting conservative groups in 2010, and, alongside Lerner, seemingly approved the discriminatory decisions.
When the scandal broke, Choi was interviewed by members of Congress but faced no actual punishment and continues to hold a significant leadership position in the organization. Choi is a registered Democrat with decades of affiliation.
Holly Paz, who serves as commissioner of the Large Business and International Division, was a crucial part of Lerners targeting of conservatives. She worked under Choi and succeeded him as the director of Exempt Organizations, Rulings and Agreements.
Paz briefly faced consequences for her involvement in this scandal, being placed on administrative leave in 2013, but was back in the agency before long. Under the Biden administration, she was promoted to her current senior position. Apart from her work with Lerner and Choi to discriminate against conservative organizations, Paz also personally financially supported President Obamas campaign.
Elizabeth Kastenberg was involved in the targeting of conservatives under Lois Lerner and even admitted that the targeting was due to political affiliation. Her admission of discriminating against Americans due to their political beliefs did not disqualify her from becoming the acting director of the Office of Professional Responsibility. The IRS must operate under a different definition of professional responsibility than we do.
During Lerners tenure, Kastenberg was responsible for reviewing audits of conservative-leaning nonprofits. Publicly available emails show that she was instructed to be on the lookout for a teaparty case, and that she was explicitly instructed to deny tax-exempt status to two conservative organizations.
In another email, she acknowledged the bias in the treatment of conservative applicants for tax-exempt status, writing in 2011 that these cases are held back primarily because of their political party affiliation rather than specifically any political activities.
Despite knowingly perpetrating a politically motivated, discriminatory campaign against the right, Kastenberg and her accomplices remain in charge of major parts of the group responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the main body of the federal statutory tax law.
The removal of these actors is a start. But Republicans must realize that more than showy public hearings are needed. That means striking a blow against blatant partisanship. The current IRS leadership structure suggests that extreme partisanship is not just tolerated, its rewarded.
Many higher-ups in the IRS publicly demonstrate anti-Trump and anti-conservative biases. Directors of major departments are Democrat donors, giving money to Biden, Obama, presidential candidate Kamala Harris, several other Democrat campaigns, and liberal political organizations.
Social media posts endorse discriminatory and unconstitutional DEI hiring policies; support the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement; and criticize DOGEs attempts to cut spending and root out waste, fraud, and abuse.
After more than a decade of lawfare, including actions meant to sway the outcome of elections, it is no longer feasible to give nakedly partisan bureaucrats the benefit of the doubt. If the administration is serious about lasting reform and an end to lawfare operations, they should empower Long to drain the leftist fever swamp at the IRS.
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