Amicus Brief

LDAD Defends Taxpayer Privacy Against Mass Government Surveillance

June 28, 2021

Apr 15, 2026

Editorial credit: Shuterstock

Lawyers Defending American Democracy (LDAD) has filed an amicus brief in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to stop a massive data-sharing agreement between the IRS and ICE. LDAD urged the court to uphold a preliminary injunction that protects the private information of approximately 1.28 million individuals.

The federal government is attempting to implement a "Data Policy" set forth in a Memorandum of Understanding between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under which the IRS would disclose to ICE the last known address of approximately 1.28 million non-citizens who have filed tax returns with the IRS.

Through this Memorandum, ICE seeks to use tax records as a map for locating non-citizens for deportation. A federal district court issued a preliminary injunction to block this move.

LDAD’s amicus brief in the appellate court supported the plaintiff’s position by analyzing the legislative history of the provisions for disclosure of taxpayer information, dating back to the mid-nineteenth century and culminating in the Tax Reform Act of 1976. That law – a response to the Nixon administration’s abuse of power – required that taxpayer information be kept confidential with certain limited exceptions that do not apply here.

As LDAD argues, using the IRS as a surveillance tool for another agency violates federal law and breaks a fundamental promise made to the American public.

"Taxpayer information is confidential by law for a reason," stated Georgetown Law Professor and LDAD Board member Mitt Regan, a principal author of the brief. "The government is trying to use a narrow provision permitting limited disclosure  to justify a massive dragnet, ignoring decades of legal protections designed to prevent exactly this kind of overreach."

LDAD volunteer lawyer Ben Vaughan coordinated work on the brief; additional contributors included LDAD volunteer lawyers Jeff Gutman and Dan Davidson, Georgetown Law student Shriya Shinde, and Georgetown Law Professor Mitt Regan.

Stay Informed —

Be the first to know about LDAD news by following us on social media (LinkedIn, Instagram, Bluesky, and Facebook) and by signing up for our newsletter.

featured press