
The lawsuit, the first in line following eh IRS scandal over inappropriate targeting of conservative groups, seeks class action status on behalf of all conservative and libertarian groups that had been targeted by the IRS for "extra" scrutiny from March 2010 to May 2013.
The plaintiffs seek monetary damages for violations of the First and Fifth Amendment rights and violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 by the IRS.
Meckler said in a statement, "We stand shoulder to shoulder with all those known and unknown who have been abused by a federal government run amok."
The lawsuit on Tuesday, came in the wake of news of a White House spokesman telling reporters on Monday that two senior aides to President Obama were aware for weeks about a report by the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration that the IRS was targeting conservative groups,
The lawsuit claims that NorCal had first sought tax-exemption in March 2010, but did not receive the status until Aug 2, 2012 due to "unjustifiable delay." The complaint also mentions, "The IRS engaged in a tactic of suffocating NorCal Tea Party Patriots and other similarly situated groups with requests that were so searching and extensive that they would have presented a serious challenge even for sophisticated businesses."
The case is NorCal Tea Party Patriots v. The Internal Revenue Service, et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, No. 13-00341.