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Keith A. Tucker, et ux. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 17-60833 · judgment April 3, 2019

Certiorari denied · October 15, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 29% cert probability (95% interval 22%–37%)

Before the decision, about 7× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Fifth Circuit decision below, and a circuit split argued in the petition.

Question presented

May the judge-made “economic substance doctrine” be invoked to supplant any tax results that a court deems abusive, even when those results stem from the application of clear, unambiguous, and mechanical provisions of tax law, as the Fifth Circuit held below and other courts of appeals have concluded, or is the doctrine properly invoked only as a tool for interpreting the meaning of tax laws, as the D.C. and Sixth Circuits have held?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Gregory George Garre
Latham & Watkins LLP

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Proceedings

  1. Oct 15 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Sep 18 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/11/2019.
  3. Sep 18 2019
    Reply of petitioner Keith A. Tucker; Laura B. Tucker filed. (Distributed)
  4. Sep 04 2019
    Brief of respondent Commissioner of Internal Revenue in opposition filed.
  5. Aug 01 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 4, 2019.
  6. Jul 31 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 5, 2019 to September 4, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Jul 02 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 5, 2019)