This Is Worst-Case Scenario

Just weeks ago, Senator Joe Manchin was opposed to H.R. 1 and was outspokenly opposed to getting rid of the filibuster. Now, Sen. Manchin has cracked under the pressure of his colleagues and is going forward with supporting a federal takeover of our elections and removing the filibuster. He has added some revisions to the bill, but essentially it includes the same core issues as the original H.R. 1 bill.

Sen. Manchin previously had strong feelings about not passing H.R. 1 at this time:

"You should not pass any type of a voter bill in the most divisive time in our life unless you have some unity on this thing because you’ll just divide the country further."

The sudden change of heart comes after he has faced tremendous pressure from members of his party. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and President Biden are intent on passing this bill and began conversations with Sen. Manchin last weekend to get him to change his mind. And it looks like it worked so far.

ACLJ Senior Counsel for Global Affairs and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo detailed in his new article and explained further the dangers of H.R. 1:

"This presents enormous risk. Our central understanding about how America and American elections operate is at the very core of what makes our nation so special. The Left wants to federalize these entirely. They want you and I to take money out of our pockets and transfer them to candidates who we disagree with strongly by subsidizing and matching money in campaigns. They want to ban the use of ID’s just asking folks to identify who they are if they want to come vote and validating that they are in fact entitled to vote that existed in American law. These are basic presets that states run elections and not the federal government. This is not only a rewrite of our election process, but a rewrite of the understandings that have been at the bedrock of America for 240 plus years now."

We are going to keep fighting to defend the integrity of our elections. Approximately 623,359 of our members have signed the petition to do just that. On Tuesday, the entire U.S. Senate will come together and have a procedural vote on this bill that could impact our elections immensely. The ACLJ is taking direct action with our elected leaders to express the consequences of this bill.

As the 2022 elections are approaching not only are our voting rights at risk, but also conservative groups are being targeted once again. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a long history of targeting conservative groups. In our ACLJ film, we shared the personal stories of members in these groups that were singled out and targeted by the IRS. We did 4 years’ worth of litigation and won. The IRS conceded their error, corrected their policies, implemented new procedures, and consented to an injunction in federal court. The IRS fully admitted in federal court that it wrongfully targeted conservative groups and issued an apology to our clients for doing so. Now, just four years later under a new Administration, the IRS is back to doing the very thing we fought to stop.

We’ve just learned from our friends at the First Liberty Institute that the IRS has refused tax exempt status to a religious organization, Christians Engaged – a non-profit organization that exists to educate and empower Christians to pray for our nation and elected officials, vote, and be civically engaged. Why? The IRS stated in an official letter that Biblical values are exclusively Republican.

The Director of the IRS Exempt Organizations unit, Steve Martin (the office formerly held by Lois Lerner), clearly laid it out in the rejection letter to this organization:

"For example, you educate believers on national issues that are central to their belief in the Bible as the inerrant word of God. Specifically, you educate Christians on what the bible says in areas where they can be instrumental including the areas of sanctity of life, the definition of marriage, biblical justice, freedom of speech, defense, and borders and immigration, U.S. and Israel relations. The bible teachings are typically affiliated with the [Republican] party and candidates. This disqualifies you from exemption under IRC Section 501 (c)(3)."

This is in direct violation of what we fought for in court. In the conclusion of the ACLJ’s four-year legal battle on behalf of 41 conservative organizations targeted by the IRS for their views, a federal judge ordered:

"A declaration by the Court that discrimination on the basis of political viewpoint in administering the United States tax code violated fundamental First Amendment rights. Disparate treatment of taxpayers based solely on the taxpayers’ names, any lawful positions the taxpayers espouse on any issues, or the taxpayers’ associations or perceived associations with a particular political movement, position or viewpoint is unlawful."

The IRS targeting conservative organizations and the H.R. 1 bill are further empowering the Left’s radical agenda. This is not a bill that can be renegotiated, compromised, or revised. This bill needs to be completely rejected by voters around the U.S. and our elected leaders to ensure the integrity of our elections.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of H.R. 1’s development and the IRS targeting of conservative groups based on their political viewpoints.