Court Blocks IRS Data For ICE: Your Briefing
A federal appeals court upheld an order barring the IRS from handing taxpayer address data to immigration enforcement. The unanimous D.C. Circuit panel ruled Tuesday that the arrangement broke a Watergate-era privacy law.
Why it matters: The administration wanted tax records as a tool to locate people for removal. The ruling cuts off that pipeline and reaffirms that what you tell the IRS stays with the IRS.
Where things stand
The block holds. The panel affirmed a preliminary injunction, keeping the data-sharing deal frozen while the case proceeds.
A unanimous panel. Judges Patricia Millett, Cornelia Pillard, and Robert Wilkins, all Obama appointees, ruled together. Pillard authored the opinion.
The law at issue. The court relied on Section 6103 of the tax code, the confidentiality rule Congress passed after Nixon weaponized tax files against political enemies.
By the numbers
28 million requested. ICE sought data on that many individuals under the arrangement.
47,289 disclosed. The IRS handed over that many taxpayer addresses before the courts intervened.
42,695 violations found. The district court earlier determined the disclosures breached the privacy statute many times.
How it works
- A narrow exception, stretched. Section 6103 lets the IRS share data in limited criminal matters. The administration argued immigration enforcement fit. The court disagreed.
- Confidentiality is the default. Tax privacy exists so Americans file honestly without fear the return becomes evidence in an unrelated case.
- The injunction pauses, not ends. The ruling freezes the program; it does not resolve the full case, which continues before District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
- The history is the point. Congress wrote Section 6103 after President Nixon pulled tax files on political opponents. The statute exists precisely to stop the executive from mining returns for unrelated ends.
What insiders are saying
- The administration will keep fighting. A DHS spokesperson said the department disagrees and will continue using every lawful tool to remove aliens with final orders of removal.
- The court was blunt. Pillard dismissed one government argument as “weak sauce,” noting the IRS could file required notices under seal.
- Next steps are open. The government can seek rehearing or take the fight to the Supreme Court. Neither step is confirmed.
The argument
Enforcement advocates make a fair point: the government already holds the data, and locating people with final removal orders is a lawful end. If Congress wants the IRS to help, it can say so. The court’s answer is that Congress has not, and an agency cannot rewrite a privacy statute to reach a goal lawmakers never authorized.
Limited government means the taxman’s files are not a general-purpose tracking system, even for causes many Americans support. The fix, if one is wanted, runs through Congress.
-The Editors
Politics · Liberty · Upstream of the Swamp · September 10, 2026
