This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Under Barack Obama's regime, the Internal Revenue Service was weaponized to delay and deny required governmental permissions for conservative charitable organizations that wanted to sound off on his re-election campaign, which he won, to operate.

They were grilled over their donors, their beliefs, their prayers and much more. Applications were lost and required a second submission. Free speech was under fire.

That treatment was unlike other groups that promoted a liberal agend

Eventually, the IRS was forced to confess, and it even settled a number of lawsuits over its actions.

But now a federal court has ruled that one of the components that appeared in that agenda is unconstitutional.

A report at the Washington Examiner points to a ruling from Washington, D.C., judge Jia Cobb.

The court found that a test used by the IRS, involving "facts and circumstances," was unconstitutionally vague.

The ruling said an organization called Freedom Path could not be rejected by the IRS for its requested tax standing because of the failing in the federal process.

But it continued the case, as neither side, Freedom Path nor the IRS, had suggested a standard that could be imposed.

The judge said the IRS violated constitutional protections by denying the tax-exempt status the organization requested.

"The ruling held that the agency's 'facts and circumstances' framework, an 11-part analysis derived from a 2004 IRS revenue ruling, fails to survive the heightened scrutiny required when government rules implicate First Amendment speech rights," the report said.

Freedom Path, founded in Texas in during 2011, when Obama remained in control of the IRS, sought tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(4). Years later, the IRS denied the request.

The group then sued, explaining the test was so unclear it gave bureaucrats total discretion to punish political speech.

They are right, Cobb said. "The Treasury regulation and IRS Revenue Ruling that the IRS applied in denying Freedom Path's application transgress the heightened vagueness standard applicable to civil regulations… that affect speech covered by the First Amendment."

The report said Lex Politica represented Freedom Path and CEO Chris Gober explained the ruling vindicates concerns IRS rules have been used to "silence disfavored viewpoints."

"This ruling is a victory not just for Freedom Path, but for every American who believes government bureaucrats shouldn't be able to bully citizens into silence," Gober said on social media.

During that time period, when the IRS targeted "right-leaning" groups, IRS official Lois Lerner publicly confessed the agency had been targeting any groups with names like "Tea Party" and "Patriot."

Gober has explained a lot of those IRS officials still are in office, and still are using their schemes.

"In Freedom Path's case, the IRS demanded donor information and evaluated the group's advertisements and mailers under the disputed test. Ultimately, it found that more than half of the organization's spending amounted to political campaign intervention and denied its exemption, a determination the court has now rejected as constitutionally flawed," the report said.