Former IRS executive Lois Lerner and her deputy at the agency, Holly Paz, are fighting to keep their court depositions regarding the Tea Party targeting scandal sealed. Forever. Attorneys for the women argued that releasing their clients’ testimony would put them in danger, stating, “Whenever Mss. Lerner and Paz have been in the media spotlight, they have faced death threats and harassment.” Lerner and Paz specifically referenced Tea Party leader Mark Meckler, who helped organized the class action lawsuit against the women and the IRS, for his having referred to IRS agents as “criminal thugs.”

Meckler responded, “Four years of harassing innocent American citizens for their political beliefs, and she’s scared of a guy in a cowboy hat talking to a bunch of old ladies at a Tea Party event?” Meckler continued, “The reality is because she knows she is guilty as the day is long and she doesn’t want people to know what she actually did. It’s hard to have any sympathy for the women. And frankly, I don’t believe she’s genuinely scared.” Indeed, it would seem counterintuitive for Lerner and Paz to hide their deposition from the public if their testimony did prove to exonerate their behavior. If the truth shows their behavior to have been legal and above board, then why hide the truth?

But it’s not just offended Tea Party groups who are interested in seeing those deposition court files. The Cincinnati IRS office that Lerner initially blamed for the targeting scandal is also seeking to learn what Lerner and Paz had to say.

With the government having recently reversed course admitting wrong doing and settled lawsuits brought by Tea Party groups over the scandal, there seems to be more of an argument now than ever for having the deposition records unsealed and made public. When a crime has been committed — by the government, no less — the American public has the right to know who was to blame. Justice demands it.