A federal judge has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to hand over a list of the 298 tea party organizations that it targeted with broad and often intrusive questions when they applied for nonprofit tax-exempt status . The decision from U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott means right-wing groups are a step closer to being allowed to pursue a class-action lawsuit against the IRS . The agency has admitted playing political favorites with the tax code beginning in 2010 , when it began applying extra scrutiny to groups with red-flag words like 'patriots ' or 'tea party ' in their names . While those organizations ' applications were held up for years , liberal groups sailed through the process . Federal tax-exempt status is confered on groups that serve a public purpose , including issue advocacy , and allows them to promise tax deductions to their donors . SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS . F.U.I.R.S . : American conservatives were up in marks in 2013 after the IRS confirmed it had been slow-walking tax-exemption applications from tea party groups based on red-flag words in their names . Lois Lerner , the former IRS official at the heart of the tea party targeting scandal , ran the 'Exempt Organizations ' division until late 2013 when she retired with full benefits ; the Justice Department said this week that it wo n't prosecute her for defying a congressional subpoena and refusing to answer questions . Tax-exempt organizations are not permitted to work for or against candidates for public office , but they can use up to half of their funds to make public arguments about political matters like tax policy , the Obamacare insurance overhaul , the environment or foreign policy . Dlott agreed this week that the tea party groups suing the government can pursue their claims that the IRS violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights , along with a section of federal law – Section 6103 of Title 26 – that prohibits the government from releasing private information contained in tax returns . When the Treasury Department 's Office of Inspector General investigated the IRS 's actions , it demanded – and received – a list of 298 groups whose tax-exemption applications had been held up . It 's this list that the tea party groups want . Their lawsuit aims first to identify a list of 'all dissenting groups targeted for additional scrutiny by the IRS from January 20 , 2009 , through July 15 , 2013 . ' Dlott could then choose to certify that list as a 'class ' of plaintiffs . IRS commissioner John Koskinen has insisted that his agency is no longer targeting conservative groups with special scrutiny , and has offered to green-list any group that promises it will limit its political activity to 40 per cent of its budget – but some organizations are holdout out , claiming the law entitles them to a 50 per cent limit . The IRS 's lawyers claimed that they could n't provide the court with the names of all the groups , saying they would have to turn over the very documents that Section 6103 requires them to keep confidential . The conservative plaintiffs said they would be happy to have only the spreadsheet that the inspector general got from the IRS . Dlott agreed and ordered the agency to hand it over . 'The Court concludes that the return information sought is directly related to the issue of class certification in this federal court proceeding , ' her ruling reads . 'The names of the putative class member organizations and their control dates – the date which the putative class member organizations submitted their applications for tax exempt status to the IRS – are directly related to the issue of class certification . ' Dlott decided that without the list , the plaintiffs would n't be able to show all the disaffected conservative applicants it has already identified share common experiences at the hands of America 's tax collectors . Courthouse News Service first reported her ruling . The IRS is the federal agency Americans most love to hate , polling worse in opinion surveys than Congress . A partial list was unearthed by USA Today in September 2013 , showing that as of 2011 the IRS had questioned the political advocacy of 162 right-wing organizations and delayed approving their tax exemptions . In an IRS spreadsheet published online by the newspaper , partisan government officials characterized the activities of 21 of those groups as 'propaganda . ' Dlott also ordered the IRS to tell the court whether or not that list was authentic , The Washington Times reported . Former IRS official Lois Lerner , who has been at the center of the targeting scandal since it emerged in 23 months ago , was facing the possibility of criminal Contempt of Congress charges until the Obama administration 's Department of Justice declined on Monday to prosecute her . Lerner , under subpoena in May 2013 , delivered an opening statement professing her innocence during a hearing but then refused to answer questions .
Right-wing groups want court to let them sue the IRS in a class-action lawsuit for violating their constitutional right to equal treatment . IRS applied different criteria to right-wing groups , holding up their applications for years while liberal organizations skated through . Obama administration fought the release of a list of 298 groups it denied tax-exempt status beginning in 2010 , citing privacy concerns . Judge in Cincinnati overruled the government and ordered the IRS to hand over the list . If court 'certifies ' class-action status , the tea party groups will be free to demand emails , phone records and other documents .