A Primer on How a Case Gets to the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States – sometimes called SCOTUS – has been in the news a lot lately. As a result, one of my most popular questions is: How does a case get to the Supreme Court?
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What Now? Supreme Court Rulings On Same-Sex Marriage Raise Questions About Taxes
The Supreme Court released three opinions today: United States v. Windsor, Sekhar v. United States, and Hollingsworth v. Perry (each opinion downloads as a pdf). For policy geeks like me, the release of Supreme Court opinions is one of the highlights of summer. It’s incredibly satisfying to watch a case go from beginning to end…
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Challenges To Same Sex Marriages Now At Supreme Court
On December 11, 2012, I posted the piece that follows about the Supreme Court’s grant of cert to hear cases on same-sex marriages. I’ve often said that I thought the arguments would come down to financial and tax matters and, at least as it applies to DOMA, that’s the case. Since these cases are at…
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Challenges To Same Sex Marriage To Be Heard By Supreme Court
On Friday, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari on two same sex marriage cases. Those cases include Hollingsworth v. Perry, a challenge to California’s controversial Proposition 8 measure, and a case out of New York, U.S. v Windsor, which considers the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). As noted on…
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Is A Penalty A Tax? The SCOTUS Health Care Decision
So first things, first. The Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a little background on the Act can be found here). It was a close decision, with the final vote being 5-4. The opinion was delivered by Chief Justice Roberts, who affirmed the decision along with (generally) Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and…
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IRS Lacks Statutory Authority To Extend Time To Assess Tax
Charles J. Sigerseth just won an A… or at least a nice note to his professor. Charles’ entry on the statute of limitations issue is one of two winning entries in my legal writing contest. Charles received his paralegal cert of graduation this year from Blackstone Career Institute and is now studying to take the…
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SCOTUS Says Tax Crimes Are Grounds For Deportation
“What’s the worst that can happen?” I get asked that a lot in the context of tax compliance. Well, as of today, there’s this: you could be deported. The Supreme Court has affirmed the ruling of the Ninth Circuit Court in KAWASHIMA v. HOLDER (615 F. 3d 1043, affirmed). In Kawashima, an immigration judge ordered…
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Taxapalooza At The Supreme Court: Part Three
You hear those little whoops and cheers in the background? Those are me, ecstatic that the Supreme Court appears to be on a tax tear. Next on the agenda is Levin, Tax Commissioner of Ohio v. Commerce Energy, Inc., which was argued back in March and decided on yesterday. Levin is mostly a procedural case….
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Taxapalooza At The Supreme Court: Part One
Typically, there are not a lot of tax cases that make news at the Supreme Court level. But this season feels like it’s an exception with a whopping two – yes, two – tax-related cases slated for review. Well, that’s a bit of an overstatement. The first case was actually more procedural in nature but…
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Obama Announces Kagan As Supreme Court Nominee
On Monday, President Obama announced Elena Kagan as his nominee to the US Supreme Court to fill the spot soon to be vacated by Justice John Paul Stevens. Stevens, the fourth longest serving Justice in the Supreme Court, has served during the terms of seven presidents (Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W….