Justices Jackson and Frankfurter on Duty to the United States Through Reporting and Paying Taxes

As some of the Alumni know, Justice Robert H. Jackson had, prior to serving on the Supreme Court as the chief United States prosecutor for the Nuremburg Trails, has served both as general counsel of the Treasury where his responsibilities included the IRS and as Assistant Attorney General heading the Tax Division. I received the following email today from Professor John Q. Barrett of St. John's Law School and Fellow of the Robert H. Jackson Center, Inc.. I thought readers would be interested in this email and received permission from Professor Barrett to pass it along. (I have some links at the end for readers desiring to see more on Justice Jackson and some may want to join Professor Barret's email list as well.)

For the Jackson List:

In summer 1962, Justice Felix Frankfurter, age 79 and disabled by a stroke, retired from the Supreme Court of the United States after 23 years of service.

As a retired Justice, Frankfurter kept his mind and interested eyes on many matters. In winter 1964, for example, he spotted, or someone called to his attention, a quotation that an official U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) form attributed to his late colleague Robert H. Jackson (who once had been the Revenue bureau’s chief counsel). According to the IRS, Jackson once said or wrote—no source was specified—that “[t]he United States has a system of taxation by confession. That a people so numerous, scattered and individualistic annually assesses itself with a tax liability, often in highly burdensome amounts, is a reassuring sign of the stability and vitality of our system of self-government.”

DiCicco is now Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General

John DiCicco's time to serve as Assistant Attorney General ran out, so he was given a new, specially created title, in the absence of an Assistant Attorney General so that he could continue to run the Tax Divisoin.  That title is Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General.  Main Justice has an article giving some of the details titled Manuever Allows Career Lawyer to Wield Power in Tax Division.  (Note that you may have to create an account with Main Justice to read the article, but those interested in the Tax Division and DOJ generally will want to do that.)  The article cites Tax Division Directive No. 139 as to authorities delegated during the period of the absence of an AAG.  Finally, the article notes the Administration claim that the appointment of an AAG is in the works.

Thomas Foye Death

I was notified that Thomas Foye died on February 1, 2011.  The link to his obituary is here.  The following is the excerpt from the obituary about his Tax Division service.

Upon graduation Tom spent three years as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division. Tom tried civil tax cases all over the country on a variety of issues, winning more cases than he lost while gaining the respect of his adversaries for his keen abilities as a tax lawyer and for his sense of fairness.

Cynthia Holcomb Hall Death

Pat Whaley sent an email today advising:

I am sorry to have to advise you that Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall died this last Saturday at her home in Pasadena California. While she has been battling cancer and other aliments for the last few years, she remained an active member of the Ninth Circuit. I understand that the Ninth Circuit will be issuing an obituary in the next few days. Pat Whaley

I will post further information as I get it.

Addendum 3/2/11: The Los Angeles Times obituary article is here. The Ninth Circuit posting is here.  Wikipedia entry is here.

Death of Andy Baum, Mike Baum's Son

Mike Baum's son recently died.  I enclose a link to the Washington Post obituary and a link to it below.

Andrew S. Baum

Died suddenly on November 22, 2010 at his home in Keller, TX. Son of the late Myron C. Baum. He is survived by his mother, Beatrice "Bea" of Kensington, MD; his wife, Carrie; son, Jesse; daughter Callie and granddaughter, Kaylee. A pioneer in the field of Health Psychology, at the time of his death he was a Jenkins Garrett Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington. Those who are interested may contribute to the Dr. Andy Baum Memorial Fund at the University of Texas at Arlington, Box 19047 Arlington, TX 76019. A Memorial service was previously held on December 6 at the University of Texas at Arlington.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?n=andrew-s-baum&pid=147146919

The older alumni, of course, remember what a force Mike was in the Tax Division and many of us got to know Mike's family.  Those wanting Bea's address should contact me by email (jack@tjtaxlaw.com) or by telephone (office 713-819-0726).

Also, those who remember Mike might like to view an earlier posting titled "Remembering Mike Baum, Tributes from Friends and Colleagues."

DOJ Tax Holiday Party 12/17/10 4-6pm

DOJ TAX ALUMNI ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO THE

TAX DIVISION HOLIDAY PARTY

DATE: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2010

TIME 4:00 TO 6:00 PM

PLACE: GREAT HALL

ROBERT F. KENNEDY MAIN JUSTICE BUILDING*

* THE 10th STREET AND CONSTITUTION AVENUE ENTRANCE WILL BE OPEN FOR GUESTS OF THE RSVP LIST FROM 3:35 TO 4:45 PM.

COST: $25

PLEASE BRING YOUR PAYMENT TO THE PARTY
(CASH, OR CHECK PAYABLE TO "THE TAX DIVISION FUND")

RSVP: BY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2010

Alumni wishing to attend need to RSVP to DOJ Tax (send email to Noreene.c.stehlik@usdoj.gov); their names will be put on the guest list and they can enter the building at the entrance noted above. Alumni will pay at the door.

Dewey O'Brien's Book of Memories with Anecdotes from Tax Division

James Dewey O’Brien (DOJ Tax Alum) has written a memoir titled “An American Experience: The First Ninety Three Years” in which Dewey describes events of his life both inside and outside DOJ Tax. The description of the book and ordering information is here: http://mysite.verizon.net/vze12w6u8/. Focusing on DOJ Tax specifically, Dewey provides wonderful anecdotes of his experiences during six presidential administrations, including the following summary with more details in the book:

Much of my work was on special assignments: (1) to a task force investigating corruption in the IRS (I recused myself from the Tax Division part of that in which the former Div. head, Caudle, was convicted, although I never knew him) I did participate in the prosecution of former IRS commissioner Joseph D. Nunan. Later, I was sent to Little Rock during those troubled times to conduct a grand jury investigation (got good reception). Similar assignment by Byron White in Oxford, MS. Member for a time of the so-called Hoffa Group with successful prosecution of Benjamin Cohen of SDFL. My most interesting case was U.S. v. Jurzykowski et al. The Tax Division was about to decline prosecution as it was thought that evidence could not be obtained from behind the Iron Curtain. This case took me to Brazil for depositions twice and I did get evidence from Poland in admissible form.

Tax Division Honorees at Attorney General's Award Ceremony

Main Justice has posted the Attorney General's Awards here (see also here).  The Tax Division recipients are:

Karen Hamilton, Tax Civil Nothern

The Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Administrative Support recognizes outstanding performance in administrative or managerial support by an administrative employee or secretary.  Karen Hamilton, Data Management Specialist for the Tax Division Civil Trial Section in the Northern Region

Grover Hart, III, Tax Civil Southwestern

Another John Marshall Award for Participation in Litigation is awarded to an attorney from the Department of Justice Tax Division for his outstanding work as lead counsel for the government in AT&T Inc. v. United States. Grover Hartt III, Senior Level Trial Attorney for the Civil Trial Section of the Southwestern Region, assembled and guided the government’s excellent trial team, developed its litigating strategy, oversaw an exceptionally complex and demanding discovery process—conducting crucial portions of it himself—and authored the briefs that resolved the case in the government’s favor.

Judith Hagley, Tax - Appellate

The John Marshall Award for the Handling of Appeals is presented to Judith A. Hagley, Attorney for the Appellate Section of the Tax Division. Hagley is honored for her exceptional skill and success in briefing and arguing the most influential and high-profile tax shelter cases to reach the Appellate Section. Her personal accomplishments in handling this sensitive, difficult, and complex litigation have laid the groundwork for success in the Tax Division and the IRS.

DOJ Tax AAG Nomination Withdrawn

The Obama administration will not renominate Mary L. Smith.to be AAG for the Tax Division. 

See the Main Justice article here and the Tax Prof Blog article here.

Russell Davis Memory of DOJ Tax and Mike Baum and Stan Krysa and others

I received an email from Russell Davis (DOJ Tax 1963-1968) updating his contact information. Russell made the following comment which he gave me permission to put on the blog.

It was the best 5 years of my professional career. Working under Mike Baum was incredible as was with Stan Krysa. Bureaucracy was minimized and subordinated to a standard of excellence in pursing a just result in court. The attorneys were some of the brightest around and many lifetime relationships were formed.

JAT Note:  I encourage anyone with memories about their time at DOJ Tax, their colleagues and the quality of the experience to let me know and I will post thenm (within bounds of propriety of course).  Memories such as Russell's and good anecdotes would be particularly enjoyable to many of the Alumni.  Thanks, Russell.