Many of the Republicans that were attacked during the Obama era are now being compensated by the United States government.
At the time, the conservative organizations were constantly targeted because they had a different political view concerning the Internal Revenue Service
The attorney that represented the victims in court has now confirmed that the current government has begun to issue cheques to the victims.
While reacting to the move, Edward Greim, attorney for Kansas City said, “
“This is really a groundbreaking case. Hopefully, it sets a precedent and will serve as a warning to government officials who further feel tempted to discriminate against U.S. citizens based on their viewpoints.”
Greim also confirmed that most of the plaintiffs will get as much as $14,000, while about five conservative organizations that were affected by the attacks will also get about $10,000 each.
Furthermore, close to $2 million will be subtracted from the settlement so as to pay the legal charges for the five-year-long case. Attorneys representing IRS dragged the case for long periods, using the same taxpayer protection policy that the accusers used in order to delay proceedings.
A managing director of one of the organizations that will be settled explained that the manner in which IRS acted had “chilling effect” on the right to speak freely.
He said, “shame on those people at the IRS who engaged in putting their foot down on the throats of people who were simply trying to advocate for an issue or express an opinion.
“That stain on the IRS should remain there as a reminder that this should never take place again.”
An out-of-favor Lois Lerner was once the head of the team that handles applications for tax-free organizations at IRS. It was gathered that she personally ensured that applications from conservative organizations were specially inspected. That lead to delays which latest for years. Some members were even called in for questioning, all in a bid to frustrate the organizations.
Although, she explained that she was not wrong for acting the way she did, and the Department of Justice during the Obama regime tagged as a Hero. However, Lerner refused to be questioned by a congregational committee.
While responding to her negative acts towards the conservative groups, Greim said, “At one level, it’s hard to even assess a dollar amount to what they did, it’s so contrary to what we think our bureaucrats in Washington should be doing. It boggles the mind.”
As the judge signed the agreement to settle the plaintiffs, the judge that presided over the case indicated that the settlement was “fair, reasonable and adequate.”
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Greim then insisted that the settlement was just as much as the rate of IRS violations.
“That’s about what the evidence showed. We felt like we got about everything we could.”
As the case progressed, it was discovered that a few liberal organizations also suffered from Lerner’s policies. Hence, some settlements will also go to them.
An Autonomous Solidarity treasurer, Sara Gilberton shared her opinion with Maclver News Service.
She said, “In the spirit of democracy, we would have of course preferred that our organization, as well as all of the others in the class, had been treated fairly and equitably in the first place.
“As generous as the settlement is, there are fundamental differences in the work we were doing and planning in 2013 and 2014 and what is needed today, and money cannot change the past.”
“Today, we are pleased that this class action lawsuit has been settled favorably and hope that going forward, no organization will face such unlawful and arbitrary heightened scrutiny,” she added. “We also find it delightfully ironic that the efforts of the NorCal Tea Party and their attorneys have benefited organizations like ours that are working to uphold human rights, social justice, and worker justice since we would not have had the resources to pursue legal action on our own.”