EDITORIAL: Justice Department needs to hold IRS accountable

In March 2013, then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder launched a criminal investigation into the actions of IRS employees — most notably Lois Lerner, then-director of the agency's Exempt Organizations Division — who deliberately delayed and denied nonprofit status to conservative political groups to diminish their influence on the 2012 election. Twenty-nine months later, Lerner has since stepped down, Loretta Lynch has since replaced Holder, and the Justice Department has yet to say much of anything about its investigation. Perhaps last week's revelation that Lerner used a second alias email account to do government business will speed things up.

The discovery is but the latest development from a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by Judicial Watch, which has been prodding the IRS to release Lerner's emails for more than two years and is seemingly the only entity interested in finding out what really happened. According to a court filing Monday, the IRS revealed that Lerner either sent or received more than 400 emails from a second email account under the alias "Toby Miles." While IRS lawyers insist that the emails were part of the thousands already turned over to Congress — and while we don't quite know exactly how much Lerner used her alias accounts for government business — the disclosure certainly raises suspicions about what was really going on during Lerner's watch.

Even before this latest news, there seemed to be more than enough evidence to indict Lerner. She already had conceded that people within her division had carried out "absolutely inappropriate" actions. Shortly after news of the scandal broke, she invoked her right against self-incrimination by declining to testify in front Congress, and she then conveniently retired from her post.

If, however unlikely, Lerner herself is not part of a cover-up, a 2½-year investigation would seemingly clear that up. The longer this episode drags on, however, the more questions are raised, the more it seems there truly is something to hide, and the more likely it appears the Obama administration will do nothing about it.

It's important to remember why this scandal matters so much in the first place. This isn't just executive branch employees running roughshod over Americans' rights, which already happens too often to begin with. No, this is our nation's federal tax collection agency using taxpayer resources and its considerable powers to actively influence the outcome of national elections. Lerner's alleged email practices are in line with those of other Obama administration officials, including Hillary Clinton and Lisa Jackson, the former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The idea that Lerner and Jackson are the only people in Washington to have used alias accounts is laughable. It's an alarming trend and a red flag to journalists, government watchdogs and investigators trying to bring the public's business into the sunlight. The only reason to purposely work in the shadows is to hide politically damaging and potentially illegal activity.

New Attorney General Lynch has had four months to move this investigation along. So far, however, all she seems intent on doing, like Mr. Holder before her, is moving the goalposts. Has she decided on her own to drag her feet? Or is she acting at the request of someone else? It's been 29 months since Mr. Holder's announcement. Is the Justice Department simply stalling until President Barack Obama is safely out of office?

Enough delays. It's time for the Justice Department to take action and hold the IRS accountable.