U.S. Supreme Court Brief of Amica Curiae Leandra Lederman in Ballard v. Commissioner, in Support of Petitioners

Abstract

One of the questions in this case is whether the Tax Court effectively can shield from appellate review the work of its Special Trial Judges in the largest cases over which those judges preside, cases heard under Tax Court Rule 183. Internal Revenue Code § 7482(a) provides, in relevant part, that “[t]he United States Courts of Appeals . . . shall have exclusive jurisdiction to review the decisions of the Tax Court . . . in the same manner and to the same extent as decisions of the district courts in civil actions tried without a jury . . . .” I.R.C. § 7482(a)(1). The Tax Court’s current practice of keeping the reports of Special Trial Judges in Rule 183 cases out of the record on appeal violates this statute because it renders the United States Courts of Appeals incapable of reviewing Tax Court decisions “to the same extent” as bench trials in the district courts.

Keywords: U.S. Tax Court, transparency, rulemaking, tax litigation, Special Trial Judges, Rule 183

JEL Classification: K34, K41