{"id":7624,"date":"2017-05-19T12:15:50","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T16:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=7624"},"modified":"2017-05-19T12:15:50","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T16:15:50","slug":"judge-lois-lerners-tea-party-targeting-testimony-can-stay-secret-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2017\/05\/19\/judge-lois-lerners-tea-party-targeting-testimony-can-stay-secret-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge: Lois Lerner\u2019s tea party-targeting testimony can stay secret \u2014 for now"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Stephen Dinan<\/a><\/span>
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Lois G. Lerner<\/a> and Holly Paz<\/a>, two key figures in the IRS<\/a>\u2018 tea party-targeting, can keep testimony about their role in the targeting secret, at least for now, a federal judge ruled Thursday.\u00a0 The two women had said they feared death threats and other harassment if their depositions in a class action lawsuit against the IRS<\/a> became public.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Michael R. Barrett<\/a> had originally ordered their depositions be sealed, but on Thursday he removed that prohibition and instead said the testimony should be deemed \u201cconfidential,\u201d keeping it secret until he can see what the women had to say and what effect releasing it to the public would have.\u00a0 He said the parties in the case can eventually ask to make the information public, and at that point the burden will be on Ms. Lerner<\/a> and Ms. Paz<\/a> to explain why it should be kept secret.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood cause exists to maintain the confidentiality of the depositions during the discovery phase,\u201d Judge Barrett<\/a> ruled.<\/div>\n

For now, only the lengthy list of lawyers involved in the case will be allowed to see the deposition testimony.<\/p>\n

In a case already fraught with tension, the women\u2019s request for secrecy added a new dimension.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m outraged,\u201d said Mark Meckler, president of Citizens for Self-Governance and co-founder of Tea Party Patriots.<\/p>\n

Mr. Meckler\u2019s group is funding a class action lawsuit against the IRS<\/a> for its targeting, and hundreds of organizations snared in the targeting are part of the case. They want to talk to Ms. Lerner<\/a> and Ms. Paz<\/a> as part of their effort to get to the bottom of what went on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat she\u2019s claiming is the public should have no right to know, if they\u2019re made at a public official, what that official says under oath,\u201d Mr. Meckler said.<\/p>\n

He also said Judge Barrett<\/a> got Thursday\u2019s ruling wrong. He said the judge should have said his plan is for transparency, leaving open the chance for limited parts to be kept secret if need be.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he got it backwards,\u201d Mr. Meckler said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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More than 400 groups were on the list of nonprofit organizations the IRS<\/a> said it subjected to intrusive scrutiny up through 2013. It singled groups out because of worries about perceived political activities.<\/p>\n

The targeting came to light in May 2013 after Ms. Lerner<\/a>, knowing a scathing inspector general\u2019s report was coming, staged a question at a conference to get her version of events out to the public first.\u00a0 The Obama Justice Department conducted a criminal investigation but cleared Ms. Lerner<\/a> and other employees, saying while the IRS<\/a> showed incompetent management, it did not show an intent to deny applicants their rights. The Justice Department singled Ms. Lerner<\/a> out for praise, saying she was one of the first to conclude the behavior was inappropriate and took steps to clean up the mess.<\/p>\n

Lawyers for Ms. Lerner<\/a> and Ms. Paz<\/a> didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment. Neither did the lawyer representing the class of targeted groups.<\/p>\n

Judge Barrett<\/a> had originally scheduled a closed-door hearing for Friday to let lawyers for Ms. Lerner<\/a> and Ms. Paz<\/a> argue the need for secrecy.<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Enquirer this week filed a motion to force open the proceedings, saying the press has a right to observe the arguments unless there\u2019s a \u201cclear and present danger, or a serious or imminent threat\u201d to a fair trial.<\/p>\n

The paper\u2019s lawyers said Ms. Lerner<\/a> and Ms. Paz<\/a> haven\u2019t proved either of those conditions.<\/p>\n

On Thursday Judge Barrett<\/a> canceled the secrecy hearing, saying it was moot now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source\u00a0 m.washingtontimes.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Stephen Dinan Lois G. Lerner and Holly Paz, two key figures in the IRS\u2018 tea party-targeting, can keep testimony about their role in the targeting secret, at least for now, a federal judge ruled […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":7628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[3532,3533],"class_list":{"0":"post-7624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-usa","9":"tag-lerner","10":"tag-paz","11":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7624"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7629,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7624\/revisions\/7629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}