Vigilante
Diamond Member
- Banned
- #1
The Obama Administration defied a court order to turn over documents the IRS illegally shared with the White House in its political vendetta against 2500 conservative organizations.
Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, Obama’s former White House Chief of Staff, maintains that “for us to be compelled to testify against ourselves would violate the the Constitution's Fifth Amendment. And if there's one thing that this Administration will defend to the last it is the inviolability of the Constitution.”
The specific clause the Secretary is referring to is the one barring the government from compelling an individual in a criminal case to be a witness against himself. The use of this clause in order to protect the government from inquiries on behalf of the citizens would appear to invert the intent of the Amendment.
Nonetheless, Lew was adamant in his insistence that “I am an individual. The President is an individual. The sharing of the IRS records with the White House is a crime. So, I think we're within our rights to refuse the court's unconstitutional ruling mandating that we, in effect, be forced to verify our illegal activities.”
Lew rebuffed the plaintiff's contention that the privacy of the affected taxpayers could be protected by redacting confidential information. “The privacy of these taxpayers is just one small part of the issue,” he argued. “None of these taxpayers face jail in this dispute. At worst, their ability to actively oppose the Administration's policies may have been impeded a bit and there may have been some harassment and intimidation by the IRS, but these are the normal tactics administrations have traditionally used against opponents since FDR. None of these previous administrations were forced to disclose their illegal tactics. Enforcing the law against the administration of America's first Black president would be racist. We will not be a party to that.”
Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, Obama’s former White House Chief of Staff, maintains that “for us to be compelled to testify against ourselves would violate the the Constitution's Fifth Amendment. And if there's one thing that this Administration will defend to the last it is the inviolability of the Constitution.”
The specific clause the Secretary is referring to is the one barring the government from compelling an individual in a criminal case to be a witness against himself. The use of this clause in order to protect the government from inquiries on behalf of the citizens would appear to invert the intent of the Amendment.
Nonetheless, Lew was adamant in his insistence that “I am an individual. The President is an individual. The sharing of the IRS records with the White House is a crime. So, I think we're within our rights to refuse the court's unconstitutional ruling mandating that we, in effect, be forced to verify our illegal activities.”
Lew rebuffed the plaintiff's contention that the privacy of the affected taxpayers could be protected by redacting confidential information. “The privacy of these taxpayers is just one small part of the issue,” he argued. “None of these taxpayers face jail in this dispute. At worst, their ability to actively oppose the Administration's policies may have been impeded a bit and there may have been some harassment and intimidation by the IRS, but these are the normal tactics administrations have traditionally used against opponents since FDR. None of these previous administrations were forced to disclose their illegal tactics. Enforcing the law against the administration of America's first Black president would be racist. We will not be a party to that.”
