True the Vote Sues IRS

The IRS still has not granted True the Vote its 501(c)3 status after three years. True the Vote filed suit against the agency today.

HOUSTON, TX. May 21, 2013 – True the Vote (TTV), the nation’s leading voters’ rights organization, filed suit in federal court in Washington today against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), asking the Court to grant its long-awaited tax exempt status and seeking damages for the unlawful actions by the IRS in the processing of its application for exempt status.  ActRight Legal Foundation, a 501(c)3 fundamental rights and public interest law firm represents True the Vote in the lawsuit.

“We’ve been waiting for three years to receive a decision from the IRS about our tax exempt status,” True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said. “After answering hundreds of questions and producing thousands of documents, we’re done waiting. The IRS does not have the power to pocket veto our application. Federal law empowers groups like True the Vote to force a decision in court – which is precisely what we aim to do.”

The discovery process should be interesting in this case. After True the Vote filed for its tax-exempt status, founder Catherine Engelbrecht was subjected to a flurry of abuse by not just the IRS but also the FBI, OSHA and the BATF. Discovery might help ferret out any connections between the IRS and those other agencies that just happened to come down on Engelbrecht and her family.