Law Commons^™

Swallows As It Might Have Been: Regulations Revising Case Law, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

This is the second of two reports on the Swallozvs Holding decision. 1 In that case, the Tax Court, over three dissenting opinions, invalidated a timing rule contained in a Treasury regulation under IRC section 882. That timing rule provided that some foreign corporations could not claim otherwise available deductions if their returns for the tax year were filed outside an 18-month grace period. The majority and the dissenters clashed over which line of authority – Chevron 2 or the pre-Chevron tax-specific line of decisions typified by National Muffier3 – provides the governing standard for evaluating the validity of …

Swallows Holding As It Is: The Distortion Of National Muffler, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

I like big ideas. The opportunity to work with them, and hopefully to add to them, is one of the joys of academic life. But perspective also is required. Not everything genuinely presents "macro" issues. As Freud supposedly said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”

In Swallows Holding Ltd. v. Commissioner, the Tax Court, over three dissenting opinions, invalidated a return-filing timing rule in a Treasury regulation under section 882 of the !RC. It is clear that what drove the majority opinion was the perception that the timing rule was contrary to many previous cases interpreting the statute. As …

Shifting Science, Considered Costs, And Static Statutes: The Interpretation Of Expansive Environmental Legislation, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Congress often passes expansive legislation, frequently environmental and public health regulatory statutes, where both the definition of those items being regulated and the mandate have significant breadth. How should these provisions be construed? While it is difficult to establish a model which determines whether to broadly or narrowly construe an expansive statutory provision, factors that impact this choice include the existence of express limitations on the mandate, understandings of congressional intent, the need to avoid regulation that might do more harm than good, the nature of the regulated item, and intervening circumstances such as new understandings in law, policy, or …