...the Internal Revenue Service; that office of the United States government that collects taxes and persecutes the regime's political enemies...
to turn over the records of any requests from the White House seeking taxpayers' private information from the tax agency, delivering a victory to a group that for two years has been trying to pry the data loose.
It's not clear that there were any such requests -- but Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the IRS cannot just refuse to say so by citing taxpayer confidentiality laws, known as section 6103 of the tax code.
"This court questions whether section 6103 should or would shield records that indicate confidential taxpayer information was misused, or that government officials made an improper attempt to access that information," the judge wrote in denying the IRS's request to close out the case.
The ruling marks yet another federal judge who has ordered the B.O. regime to be more transparent when responding to open-records records. The State Department is facing a barrage of orders from federal judges demanding more cooperation in releasing former Secretary
Hillary Rodham Clinton... sometimes described as
America's Blond Eminenceand at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Edward Stettinius, Jr....
's emails.
White House officials and federal agencies are allowed, under very select circumstances, to ask the IRS for protected information. But the requests must be carefully cleared.