Posted September 15, 2003.

Anti-Tax Author Granted an Appeal

A federal appeals court has blocked an order by a Las Vegas district court judge that prevented anti-tax author Irwin Schiff from selling his book The Federal Mafia and required him to turn over a list of all his customers since 1999. In an emergency stay September 3, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked District Court Judge Lloyd D. George from enforcing a preliminary injunction he ordered in June.

Schiff, whose book advises people to resist paying income taxes, said the stay “restored sanity to the First Amendment. I believe our constitutional rights are going down the tubes. The government was prosecuting me because they don’t like what I believe.”

ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation had joined the American Civil Liberties Union and three other free speech groups May 1 in a friend-of-the-court brief that opposed any restraining order.

Lawyers for both sides are required to file briefs in circuit court, the Associated Press reported September 7, and the bench will decide whether to hear oral arguments. The IRS claims that Schiff is running an illegal tax-evasion scheme.

Posted September 15, 2003.