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Illinois Taxpayer Sues Federal Government Over CARES Act Payments

Posted on Apr. 28, 2020

A class-action lawsuit has been filed in federal court on behalf of U.S. citizen taxpayers who are ineligible for federal economic impact checks because their spouses don't have Social Security numbers.

Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a taxpayer who files a joint return with a spouse who does not have a Social Security number is ineligible for the $1,200 relief payment, as well as the additional $500 for each child under 17, unless one spouse is a member of the U.S. armed forces.

According to the lawsuit — filed April 24 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division — the plaintiff’s rights of association, due process, equal protection, and property interests have been violated by the CARES Act. The suit also argues that the defendants — which include President Trump; Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — discriminated against the plaintiff's right to marriage. 

The plaintiff, a U.S. citizen living in Illinois, is referred to in the filing as “John Doe.” He is married to an immigrant who has an individual taxpayer identification number; their children are U.S. citizens. Doe earns less than $75,000 and files joint tax returns with his spouse.

Attorneys for the plaintiff argue that carving out Americans married to immigrants from the relief payments serves no compelling government interest. “Our intention is to have our clients who make up the class of plaintiffs treated as all other U.S. citizens are treated under the CARES Act with no exceptions,” Vivian R. Khalaf, partner with Khalaf & Abuzir LLC, told Tax Notes April 27. “We are not asking for preferential treatment, but only that they not be barred from their rights as U.S. citizens on the sole basis of whom they chose to marry.”

Approximately 1.2 million Americans are married to immigrants without Social Security numbers, according to Migration Policy Institute statistics cited in the complaint.

The lawsuit seeks a temporary restraining order blocking the enforcement of the CARES Act provision and asks the court to issue a declaratory judgment that the provision violates the constitutional and statutory rights of the plaintiff.

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