PUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 22-6401

AARON D. ELLIS,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

DANIEL I. WERFEL, Commissioner of Internal Revenue; JOHN KOSKINEN, Director IRS; NINA BOLIN, Operations Manager, Operations 1 IRS; MAUREEN SANDERS, Department Manager, IRS,

Defendants - Appellees.

No. 22-6402

DWAYNE D. YOUNG,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

DANIEL I. WERFEL, Commissioner of Internal Revenue; JOHN KOSKINEN, Director IRS; NINA BOLIN, Operations Manager, Operations 1 IRS; MAUREEN SANDERS, Department Manager, IRS,

Defendants - Appellees. USCA4 Appeal: 22-6422 Doc: 50 Filed: 11/15/2023 Pg: 2 of 11

No. 22-6422

VINCENT SPINNER,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v.

DANIEL I. WERFEL, Commissioner of Internal Revenue; JOHN KOSKINEN, Director IRS; NINA BOLIN, Operations Manager, Operations 1 IRS; MAUREEN SANDERS, Department Manager, IRS,

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia, at Roanoke. James P. Jones, Senior District Judge. (7:22-cv-00062-JPJ-PMS; 7:22-cv- 00063-JPJ-PMS; 7:22-cv-00064-JPJ-PMS)

Argued: September 20, 2023 Decided: November 15, 2023

Before NIEMEYER, KING, and HARRIS, Circuit Judges.

Vacated and remanded by published opinion. Judge Niemeyer wrote the opinion, in which Judge King and Judge Harris joined.

ARGUED: Rosalind Eileen Dillon, RODERICK & SOLANGE MACARTHUR JUSTICE CENTER, Chicago, Illinois, for Appellants. Nicholas Steven Crown, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Easha Anand, San Francisco, California, Elizabeth A. Bixby, RODERICK & SOLANGE MACARTHUR JUSTICE CENTER, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Brian M. Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Barbara Herwig, Sarah Carroll, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C.;

2 USCA4 Appeal: 22-6422 Doc: 50 Filed: 11/15/2023 Pg: 3 of 11

Christopher R. Kavanaugh, United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Roanoke, Virginia, for Appellees.

3 USCA4 Appeal: 22-6422 Doc: 50 Filed: 11/15/2023 Pg: 4 of 11

NIEMEYER, Circuit Judge:

Four inmates at the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Virginia,

commenced this action pro se against agents of the IRS, alleging that the IRS unlawfully

denied them all or part of their COVID-19 stimulus payments. The complaint alleged that

the IRS was categorically denying payments to inmates on account of their incarcerated

status even though, as the complaint asserted, a court had held that incarcerated individuals

were entitled to receive stimulus payments. The four inmates contended that the IRS had

“violated their Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection of the

law,” and they sought an injunction requiring the IRS to disburse the proper payments to

them.

Shortly after filing their complaint, the four inmates filed a motion to amend it by

adding five additional inmates with the same claims.

The district court, operating under the assumption that the inm

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