ACLJ Announces Official Lawsuits from 25 Conservative Groups Against the IRS

The scandal plaguing the IRS has just taken another twist as the agency is being hit with lawsuits filed in district court by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) on behalf of many groups who claim they been unfairly targeted by the tax agency.

ACLJ's Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow announced this morning that he was filing "an inch-thick" complaint from 25 groups. Sekulow also believes that original complaint will be amended next week to "add another dozen or so groups."

Jay Sekulow announced Federal lawsuits against IRS in targeting

Among ACLJ's evidence that this was not a low-level problem created by two rogue employees in Cincinnati:

• 15 letters to various groups demanding answers to IRS questions were all hand-signed by Lois Lerner. (as seen on TheBlaze on 5/17)
• At least 4 different offices were involved over the past year and a half.
• Jay Carney claimed the targeting stopped in May of 2012, one of Jay's clients has a letter from May of this year.

According to ACLJ's lead counsel, Jay Sekulow, "The White House knew there was a problem with the agency's approach because the Deputy Treasury Secretary was aware of it, the White House counsel was aware of it. And the chief of staff was aware of the problem. It goes higher than Lois Lerner."

During Sekulow's appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," he clearly stated his belief that the IRS treatment of his clients had risen to the level of "harassment." Sekulow also believes that the problem came from above Lois Lerner, but would not speculate that it went all the way to the White House.

You can watch Wednesday morning's appearance by Jay Sekulow on MSNBC's Morning Joe here.