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‘You Wonder Why Americans Are Pissed Off’: Read The Case Nonprofits Are Saying Could Be The Next Lois Lerner IRS Scandal

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Casey Harper Contributor
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California’s attorney general has implemented a new policy that many are saying could cause the Lois Lerner IRS scandal all over again.

California attorney general Kamala Harris, a rising star in the Democrat party, instituted a new policy requiring nonprofits to disclose their donors to the state, something groups across the political spectrum say is against federal regulations and endangers their donors.

If nonprofits don’t comply with Harris’ demands, they could lose their license to solicit in the state. Mark Fitzgibbons, general counsel for American Target Advertising, told The Daily Caller News Foundation federal regulations forbid states from requiring nonprofits to reveal their donors.

The fear is that if these donors are revealed, the government can target them similar to the Lois Lerner IRS scandal, where conservative groups were systematically discriminated against by the agency.

He also said holding the nonprofit’s right to solicit hostage is a Constitutional issue, since courts have ruled that the right of solicitation is protected under the First Amendment.

“You’ve got an attorney general breaking federal law and you’ve got judges upholding her breaking the law and you wonder why Americans are pissed off,” Fitzgibbons told TheDCNF.
There is already a federal process in place for the state to obtain the donor list of nonprofits they are investigating for wrongdoing.

Nearly 60 groups filed a brief in Center for Competitive Politics v. Kamala Harris, Attorney General of California calling on the Supreme Court to take up their case.

Fitzgibbons compared the case to NAACP v. Alabama of the 21st Century, where the state’s attorney general worked to reveal NAACP donors as a way to quell the civil rights movement.

“What we are doing is explaining the dangers to this Toquevillian democracy we have where people can associate and its none of the governments business who they associate with, and that’s at stake,” Fitzgibbons told TheDCNF.

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