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U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Case Status

Decided

Docket Number

Oral Argument Date

October 16, 2018

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Case Updates

Rehearing en banc denied

November 12, 2019

Click here to view the denial order and dissent. The U.S. Chamber filed amicus briefs at the initial panel stage, at the second panel stage after the court sua sponte vacated the first panel’s opinion, and again in support of rehearing after the second panel’s opinion.

U.S. Chamber files amicus brief in support of petition for rehearing en banc

August 01, 2019

Click here to view the Chamber’s amicus brief urging the Ninth Circuit to uphold the tax court’s rejection of “tax exceptionalism.”

Chris Walker served as co-counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.

Divided Ninth Circuit panel reverses unanimous Tax Court decision holding that IRS violated Administrative Procedure Act regarding cost-sharing arrangements

June 07, 2019

Click here to view the opinion after reargument of the case.

U.S. Chamber files supplemental amicus brief in rehearing of Altera case before newly appointed Ninth Circuit panel, arguing the panel should affirm the Tax Court’s judgment that IRS violated the Administrative Procedure Act

September 28, 2018

Click here to view the Chamber’s supplemental amicus brief.

Chris Walker served as co-counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.

Ninth Circuit withdraws panel decision

August 07, 2018

Click here to view the order withdrawing the prior opinion.

Divided Ninth Circuit panel reverses unanimous Tax Court decision that IRS violated Administrative Procedure Act regarding cost-sharing arrangements

July 24, 2018

Click here to view the opinion.

Steven Lehotsky, chief counsel of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center, was quoted in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) on the “unsettling procedural history” of Judge Reinhardt casting the deciding vote in this case.

U.S. Chamber urges Ninth Circuit to uphold tax court’s rejection of “tax exceptionalism”

September 20, 2016

The U.S. Chamber asked the Ninth Circuit to affirm a U.S. Tax Court decision striking down a Treasury regulation on arbitrary and capricious grounds. The amicus brief argued that the Tax Court properly rejected the IRS’s theory of “tax exceptionalism,” which the agency routinely advances in an attempt to evade the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) and related administrative law principles. Further, the Chamber argued that, in applying the traditional rules of administrative law, the Tax Court correctly concluded that the regulation failed under the APA for a litany of reasons, including that the IRS failed to collect, much less examine, the relevant data necessary to engage in reasoned decision making. Moreover, the Chamber’s brief explained that the IRS must, like all other federal agencies, comply with the APA to facilitate the clear, predictable rules, and fair and non-arbitrary administrative processes that businesses depend on when planning their operations and investing for their businesses.

Christopher J. Walker served as counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.

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