The Ohio-based We The People Convention (WTPC) and its president, Tom Zawistowski, have filed an amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals case Texas Top Cop Shop Inc v. Garland in support of the plaintiffs challenging the Corporate Transparency Act, which went into effect this year.
Under the Corporate Transparency Act, small businesses that gross less than $5 million in sales must fill out and file beneficial ownership information reports with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network by January 1, 2025, or face hefty fines and jail time.
The Corporate Transparency Act was enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act in 2021 to prevent and combat “money laundering, terrorist financing, corruption, and tax fraud.”
However, as detailed in the amicus brief filed on Wednesday, WTPC and Zawistowski argued that the Corporate Transparency Act’s disclosure requirements “violate the First Amendment right to freedom of association.”
As president of WTPC, Zawistowski has not filed the organization for a tax-exempt status despite its eligibility due to a 2011 misconduct ordeal he experienced with the IRS at the time he was the executive director of Portage County Tea Party (PCTP) and the president of the Ohio Liberty Coalition (OLC), which led the IRS to admit that it mistreated Zawistowski’s organizations during the tax-exempt determinations process.
Wednesday’s brief likened Zawistowski’s previous legal battle with the IRS to the Corporate Transparency Act, arguing that the law be used to “target nonprofit corporations with disfavored political views that do not qualify for one of the [the law’s] exemptions.”
In a statement, Zawistowski called the Corporate Transparency Act “TEA Party Targeting 2.0.”
“Unfortunately, past experience with US government political targeting shows that it is not much of a leap to expect politicized agencies in the government, who constantly monitor my conservative podcast and social media posts to decide that perhaps they should search the CTA database to see what companies Tom Zawistowski owns or works for and then target my income to silence my Free Speech,” Zawistowski said.
On December 3, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled in favor of the plaintiffs by granting their Motion for Preliminary Injunction, barring the Corporate Transparency Act from taking effect.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the defendant in the case, soon after appealed the District Court’s decision, seeking an Emergency Motion for Stay Pending Appeal to allow the law to remain in effect.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
