Update 12/8/2024:
AAPS has filed a new brief in with the court in response to the nationwide injunction of FinCEN reporting and the government’s appeal. The AAPS brief reads in part:
Defendant FinCEN evidently expects to overturn or narrow the Texas Top Cop Shop decision, quickly appealing while declining to post a notice of the injunction on the FinCEN website. FinCEN continues to collect personal data as though mandatory. Plaintiffs need a preliminary injunction to protect themselves, including the members of Plaintiff AAPS, and the precedents hold that a nationwide injunction by another court does not render moot the injunctive relief sought by Plaintiffs, who thus request their motion for a preliminary injunction be granted.
Supplemental Brief on Mootness: https://aapsonline.org/judicial/aaps-v-treasury-brief-12-8-2024.pdf
Appendix A (Amended decision in Top Cop v. Garland): https://aapsonline.org/judicial/aaps-v-treasury-exhibit-a-12-8-2024.pdf
Update 12/7/2024:
The Deep State’s FinCEN quickly appealed the injunction against its Orwellian data grab soon after the powerful decision we told you about earlier this week. Then, after the federal district court slightly revised its ruling, FinCEN immediately filed an amended appeal!
We are letting you know about this development because we want to keep you up to date as this crucial challenge to federal overreach progresses.
This is lightning-fast legal action by the government, which ordinarily takes 60 days before appealing. Apparently FinCEN is pulling out all the stops to grab personal data from 33 million Americans, including AAPS members. “FinCEN” stands for “Financial Crimes Enforcement Network,” and its reporting obligation is like making every American report to a federal probation officer.
We knew it wouldn’t be easy to stop FinCEN in its tracks as it demands home addresses, birthdates, and driver’s licenses from our members and many millions of other Americans. The Deep State never quits in its grab for more power. Its pretext for demanding all this personal information is absurdly to “combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.”
We’re writing and filing a strong legal brief on Monday in Amarillo against FinCEN to make sure that the nationwide injunction continues to protect you against this vast expansion in federal surveillance of everyday Americans.
For now, you do not have to report to FinCEN by Jan. 1, and we’re working throughout this weekend and this month to keep this protection in place despite FinCEN’s attempts to assert power over so many Americans.
Please keep your eye on your email inbox for further updates from AAPS as developments warrant. As always, your support is greatly appreciated and pivotal to our continued efforts to fight for your rights in this case and the many other fronts in the battle to save American medicine.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (“AAPS”) filed a Motion for a Preliminary Injunction against the new mandate requiring tens of millions of Americans to report personal information to the federal government. By January 1, 2025, Americans who participate in managing small entities – even some political ones — must report their home addresses, birthdates, and other information such as driver’s license numbers to the federal government.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) is creating a massive new database of personal information about ordinary, law-abiding Americans, to share widely with other agencies and even internationally to facilitate federal investigations and prosecutions. FinCEN will assign a “FinCEN identifier” to everyone about whom it receives this information, the brief notes.
While there are some exemptions, most small medical practices are subjected to this regulatory burden and possible investigatory harassment, as are nonprofit groups not officially qualified under Section 501(c)(3), AAPS notes.
The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) imposes up to two years imprisonment for failure to report this information to the federal government or failing to update home addresses. Fines can be up to $10,000 for violations.
“This is a vast expansion in federal police power, with its political bias that has worsened,” said AAPS General Counsel Andrew Schlafly. “Fortunately, multiple provisions of the U.S. Constitution stand firmly against this federal overreach.”
AAPS asks the federal court in Amarillo, Texas, to grant a preliminary injunction against this unconstitutional law based on the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Tenth Amendments. Other district courts have rendered decisions on both sides of this issue.
“Particularly alarming is how this new disclosure requirement will have the effect of taking away the right to own guns by those found to be in violation of the CTA,” Mr. Schlafly points out. “The two-year imprisonment under the CTA triggers revocation of the Second Amendment right under a federal gun control statute,” he adds.
This AAPS lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, Texas, No. 2:24-cv-210-Z.
Link to Motion for Preliminary Injunction: https://aapsonline.org/judicial/aaps-v-treasury-10-28-2024.pdf
Founded in 1943, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons is a pro-patient association of physicians who practice private medicine. Its motto means “all for the patient.”
