Schiff

Appellants Irwin Schiff, Lawrence Cohen, and Cynthia Nuen contest the constitutionality of a preliminary injunction entered by the District of Nevada enjoining them from promoting their “zero-income” tax theories. Specifically they argue (1) that the injunction is overbroad as it relates to a book they sell, The Federal Mafia, (2) that the requirement that they give the government their customer list violates both their own and their customers’ First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment associational rights, and (3) that the order that they place a copy of the injunction on their websites constitutes illegal compelled speech in violation of the First Amendment. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (a). Because we agree that the government has shown a likelihood of success on the merits and that the provisions of the injunction do not violate the appellant’s rights, we affirm.

I. Background

Irwin Schiff has a long history of opposition to the federal income tax laws. 1 For over thirty years he has maintained that the federal income tax is voluntary, although he has never been successful with that theory in court. With co-defendant Cynthia Nuen, he now operates Freedom…