Blair

MEMORANDUM *

Appellants challenge the validity and execution of a search warrant issued pursu *163 ant to an Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) investigation of the Commonwealth Trust Company (“CTC”). Appellants are associated with the CTC and were present at a CTC meeting when IRS agents executed the warrant. They seek damages against Special Agent Christopher Hueston and fifteen unnamed defendants for alleged violations of their constitutional rights under the First and Fourth Amendments, and for false imprisonment. They also seek injunctive relief against the IRS agents.

The IRS does not violate First Amendment rights in executing a search warrant during the course of an investigation unless the warrant is procured for an improper motive. See Crawford-El v. Britton, 523 U.S. 574 , 118 S.Ct. 1584 , 140 L.Ed.2d 759 (1998). Here, the district court correctly found that appellants had failed to carry their burden to allege “specific, nonconclusory” facts to establish improper motive. Id. at 598 , 118 S.Ct. 1584 (quoting Siegert v. Gilley, 500 U.S. 226, 236 , 111 S.Ct. 1789 , 114 L.Ed.2d 277 (1991) (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment)). It also correctly found that the warrant was…