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Appeals Court Blocks IRS From Sharing Data With Immigration Authorities

Zero Rss
1 month ago
Appeals Court Blocks IRS From Sharing Data With Immigration Authorities

Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

The IRS may not disclose the addresses of illegal immigrants to immigration officials, a U.S. appeals court said on Sept. 8.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a February ruling from a district court that deemed an IRS policy to share the addresses of tens of thousands of people with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) illegal in part because the policy failed to meet requirements in the law.

The unanimous panel agreed, rejecting arguments from the government to the contrary.

The policy "indisputably contravenes the requirements of section 6103," a law that governs when the IRS can share taxpayer information, Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard wrote for the panel.

The law allows the IRS to disclose certain tax return information to other federal agencies for use in criminal investigations. To make a request, the head of the agency needs to identify the taxpayer by name and address, specify the relevant tax period, and explain why the information may be relevant to the probe.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed in April 2025 between the IRS and ICE, the latter asked for the last known address for more than 1 million people believed to be illegally present in the United States. ICE did not provide an address for some of the people on the list. Under the agreement, IRS workers sent 47,289 records to ICE before the district court stayed the process.

IRS officials requested the appeals court overturn the ruling. Government lawyers said that the groups that sued did not have standing, that the IRS did not have to follow procedures in the Administrative Procedure Act because the agreement was not a final agency action, and that the practice did not violate federal law.

Pillard wrote that at least one of the plaintiff organizations was sufficiently injured by the policy that it could bring suit, that the IRS did have to follow the procedures because the policy was a final action, and that the action violated federal law because ICE in some cases did not supply an address, as required by the law.

The law provides that the IRS can disclose information about a taxpayer to officials "personally and directly engaged" in criminal proceedings or investigations concerning that taxpayer, allowing disclosure as long as the field for the ICE point of contact is filled in, even if it said "unknown" or "to be determined."

ICE ended up putting the same person as the point of contact for each of the 1.28 million listed taxpayers for whom it requested information.

The judicial panel found that the government's practice "entirely fails to ensure that ICE lists a federal employee, let alone one 'personally and directly engaged' in a qualifying investigation of a particular taxpayer."

"Today's order is a resounding victory for the protection of all taxpayers' right to the confidentiality of their tax information in the hands of the IRS," Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, one of the groups that sued over the policy, said in a statement.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, told The Epoch Times in an email that the agency disagreed with the ruling.

"We will continue using every lawful tool available to locate and remove illegal aliens with final orders of removal, and this ruling in no way prevents us from doing so," the spokesperson said.

Tyler Durden Wed, 09/09/2026 - 19:15
Tyler Durden

Data Center Revolt Accelerates Ahead Of Midterms As Wells Fargo Warns Of Fourfold Jump In Active Moratoriums

Zero Rss
1 month ago
Data Center Revolt Accelerates Ahead Of Midterms As Wells Fargo Warns Of Fourfold Jump In Active Moratoriums

With the midterm elections just 55 days away, the data-center buildout story has become a major political issue.

Socialists Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have proposed a nationwide moratorium on new data-center buildouts. President Trump, meanwhile, has promoted data centers and infrastructure development as sources of jobs and economic growth. 

Last month, Trump wrote on Truth Social, "The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backward and poor. If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign."

"If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame. China could not be happier with this anti-data center movement. Actually, they can't believe it is happening!" Trump continued.

Vice President JD Vance also addressed the issue, acknowledging the backlash around data centers and saying he believes the concerns stem from higher power bills. But data centers wouldn't be an issue if not for years of terrible grid management and climate change policies that have neutered the grid over the last decade. 

Data center messaging has been a major issue for hyperscalers, as local resistance, some of which is fueled by outside groups and ones linked to China, spread rapidly and threatens construction timelines, complicating the electricity-demand forecasts underpinning Wall Street's AI trade. 

We cited Morganley Stanley in mid-July, which warned:

"An estimated $156 billion of data center projects were canceled or delayed in 2025, and $130 billion in 1Q26.  Community pushback against data center construction has accelerated in 2026 as new moratoriums have been introduced, with the majority of the change happening at the local level. This puts pressure on costs and timelines and could alter the geographic distribution of data centers. Sustained data center pushback could ultimately extend the cycle and reduce future supply by lowering capex and financing needs." 

"An estimated $156 billion of data center projects were cancelled or delayed in 2025, and $130 billion in 1Q26. Community pushback against data center construction has accelerated in 2026 as new moratoriums have been introduced, with the majority of the change happening at the…

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 15, 2026

And according to Wells Fargo's latest data center tracker, the revolt continues to grow, with 374 active local moratoriums by the end of summer, compared with 92 reported in June. 

Analyst Shahriar Pourreza said the data center blowback centers on electricity costs, grid capacity, water use and the impact of large industrial developments on surrounding communities. He compared the organized opposition to the resistance that materialized around natural-gas infrastructure. 

Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa and Tennessee rank among the states with the most local moratoriums in Pourreza's report.

Pourreza continued:

State-level policy actions have also been increasing (recently Texas Audit/PA GRID & EO among others) alongside election rhetoric (PA, TX, GA, OH, IA, MI, WI, KS) because DCs are unpopular across the political spectrum. 

In our view, the most exposed to state- level DC political rhetoric risk are: The IPPs (CEG, NRG, TLN, VST), AEP, CMS, CNP, DTE, EXC, FE, LNT, PPL, SO, SRE, and WEC. That said, we think much of the current pressure is optical and election-driven and should moderate post-November.

We believe noise will quiet post-Nov. as election winds down, econ- dev/nat'l security interest wins out. While we are less comfortable calling the trend fully benign, we view risk as manageable for credible projects. The unregulated era is over, but load-growth is not. State involvement post-Nov. could even be constructive by giving local officials more comfort. We think the market will always allow responsible hyperscaler projects that do not shift costs & deliver meaningful community benefits. 

He pointed out that active moratoriums average about 346 days, while the average across all tracked measures increased to 311 days from 277. Some extend as long as five years. Even temporary pauses can delay projects enough to push developers toward other states. 

Map of Active Local Data Center Moratoriums

Mounting moratoriums pose an execution risk for the AI trade as local opposition and infrastructure constraints delay projects. 

A Democratic sweep in the midterms could increase investor concerns about nationwide restrictions, though passage would remain uncertain. If enacted, a broad construction moratorium could reprice stocks linked to the AI buildout and derail Trump's 'Digital New Deal,' holding up the entire economy - and, in fact, the entire global economy (read here). 

Tyler Durden Wed, 09/09/2026 - 18:50
Tyler Durden

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