Miscellaneous On the Current DOJ and Trump v. IRS (8/5/26)

I thought I would offer some miscellaneous links to potential items of interest for DOJ Tax Division Alumni:

1. Article with co-author from Tax Division: John Koskinen, Kathryn Keneally, Kathryn Keneally, & Gilbert Rothenberg, Giving the President Tax Immunity Would Be Illegal and Unjust (BloombergTax 8/5/216), here.

2. A more uplifting story of a DOJ Tax Alumnus, Justice Robert H. Jackson (former AAG Tax Division and other high level posts before becoming a Justice), was presented in Michael R. Dreeben, Robert Jackson's The Federal Prosecutor Revisited, 139 Harv. L. Rev. Forum 173 (2026), here. Mr. Drebeen has no service in the Tax Division, although he was a long-time Assistant Solicitor General and during some of the time Deputy Solicitor General. Mr. Drebeen “revisits” then Attorney General Jackson’s iconic address on the role of the federal prosecutor. The original Jackson address is here. The Jackson address was always highly aspirational for me even though I was not a “federal prosecutor.” I just for the most part represented the Government (U.S. or Commissioner) in civil tax cases, but I still thought the tone of the address spoke to my service. The original Jackson address is  particularly timely in these days when so many DOJ norms are being disrespected, sometimes with conduct that violates the aspirations Justice Jackson set.

3. I return to the theme of illegality in the “relief” provided to Trump and others in the Trump Circle, which is the subject of Gil Rothenberg’s article in ¶ 1 above. I just finished my 2026 Federal Tax Procedure Book Student and Practitioner Editions, see my Blog page titled Federal Tax Procedure Book (2026 Editions) (Federal Tax Procedure Blog 8/4/26), here. In those Editions, I conclude with a summary of Trump v. IRS that I am sure all readers of this blog are already familiar with that summary, so I just post here my conclusion in the book after the summary:

Ugolini Returns to direct DOJ Tax Litigation Branch Appellate Section (7/29/26)

Francesca Ugolini, former head of DOJ Tax Appellate Section, returns to DOJ as Director of the Tax Litigation Branch’s Appellate Section. See Erin Slowey, DOJ Veteran to Oversee Unit Tasked With Civil Tax Case Appeals (Bloomberg Law 2/28/26), here (behind paywall).

Death of John Flanagan 6/25/26 (7/1/26)

John Flanagan died on June 25. His obituary is here. The obituary says in part relevant to his DOJ Tax service:

He clerked for a U.S. Tax Court judge, and in 1968 joined the United States Department of Justice as a prosecuting attorney in the Tax Division. He tried cases across the United States, always intrigued that so many people from Cincinnati he met in Washington wanted to return home.

Amended 7/7/26 6:00pm: I am informed that John was in Refund 1, a civil trial section, rather than the Criminal Section (that might be inferred from "prosecuting attorney" in the obituary. 

Report on DOJ Tax Alumni Reunion 2026 (5/21/26; 5/25/26)

I am late posting on the DOJ Tax Alumni Reunion 2026 at the offices of Miller & Chevalier Chartered, here, (“M&C”) I will post a brief report and offer some pictures here. I may update both.

First, I thank Mike Desmond of M&C, here, the staff of M&C, and M&C for all they did to make the event happen. Truly a magnificent event in a great venue with great people.

I only speak to the event from my perspective. Unfortunately being an older generation alumnus, I did not recognize most alumni present. Still, there were enough of roughly my generation that renewing acquaintances was a joy for me.

The event included a brief interlude some leadership over the years made comments. Mike Desmond handled that phase of the reunion, identifying the persons who would make comments and turning over the mike to them. These included Shirley Peterson (former AAG Tax and IRS Commissioner), Eileen O'Connor (former AAG Tax), Paula Junghans (former Acting AAG Tax and Principal Deputy AAG Tax), Rod Rosenstein (former DAAG Tax), and Joshua Wu (Deputy AAG Civil).

The event included mingling, catching up, and many smiles. What a great opportunity!

I am setting up a separate page to the right under Alumni Information with pictures that I have (very few). The page can be linked here. I hope those who took pictures will share the pictures as they feel moved and appropriate by emailing them to me at jack@tjtaxlaw.com. Be sure and identify the persons in the pictures you send.

Also, feel free to comment to this blog entry or to the picture page as you feel so moved. I do moderate the comments.

Death of John McAllister 4/29/26 (5/18/26)

John McAllister died on April 29. His obituary is here. The obituary says in part relevant to his DOJ Tax service:

John began his legal career with the U.S. Department of Justice in the Tax Division's Northern Civil Trial Section. He spent many years in private practice with Groom Law Group in Washington, D.C., where he built a reputation for integrity and dedication. He concluded his distinguished career as an Assistant Attorney General in the Vermont Department of Taxes in Montpelier, Vermont.

My database shows that he served in Civil Trial Northern from 1979 to 1983.

Article on DOJ Tax Obituary (4/15/26)

1. DOJ Tax Alumni may be interested in this offering: Karen Kelly, An Obituary for DOJ’s Tax Division (Justice Connection 4/15/26), here.

While considering the Tax Division and its role and the reasons the Trump administration may want to diminish its role (and disserve the country), readers might want to consider the following from DOJ Tax’s history, particularly the role of Robert H. Jackson, former AAG Tax, Solicitor General, Attorney General, Supreme Court Justice, and Nuremburg War Crimes Prosecutor:

• Congratulations to the U.S. on Excellence Joining the U.S. Department of Justice (1936) (Jackson List 4/8/62), here.
• “The Federal Prosecutor,” in 1940, and in Hope Even Today (The Jackson List 4/1/26), here.

 

Shuffling the DOJ Tax Deck Once Again (4/10/26; 4/11/26)

The Acting Attorney General announced by memo dated 4/7/26, here, some initial details of the National Fraud Enforcement Division that President Trump created by Executive Order 14395, titled "Establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud," here. In part relevant to tax crimes enforcement, the memo says (p. 2, bold-face supplied by JAT):

• Effective immediately, the Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division shall assume operational control of the Criminal Division's Tax Section, the Health Care Fraud Unit, and the Market, Government, and Consumer Fraud Unit, and shall establish the priorities and direct the allocation of resources within them. During this interim period, the existing supervisory chains responsible for the above-named units and section will continue to exercise supervisory authority for their personnel, subject to oversight and direction from the Assistant Attorney General for the National Fraud Enforcement Division.

Relative to the priorities of criminal tax enforcement, does this re-alignment (more like a shuffling of the deck) accomplish anything meaningful, unless the signal is to use more criminal tax resources to support nontax criminal initiatives rather than to support the tax system.

Added 4/11/26 2:00pm:

ThomsonReuters has this article: Maureen Leddy, DOJ Criminal Tax Section Moves Again (ThomsonReuters 4/10/26), here. Key excerpts:

Reminder on DOJ Tax Division Reunion on 5/8/26-Registration Required (4/10/26)

 

Please join us for the DOJ Tax Division Alumni Reunion on Friday, May 8 from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. at Miller & Chevalier Chartered.

Picking up on the tradition in place for many years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, please join us for a reunion of the DOJ Tax Division to be held on Friday, May 8, 2026, coinciding with the ABA Tax Section's May Meeting in Washington, DC. The reunion will be hosted at the offices of Miller & Chevalier Chartered, 900 16th Street, NW.

For Tax Division alumni and those at the tax branches able to attend, please register using the link below. To cover catering costs, we ask attendees to contribute $50 toward the event. Payment details will be provided to all registrants. Space is limited, so please do not register unless you will be able to attend. We ask that you register and submit payment by May 1.

PLEASE NOTE: Space is limited. If we do not receive payment by May 1, we will begin opening up registration to those on the waiting list.

We're looking forward to another great reunion.

Register here: https://bit.ly/4aBs4TG

Alumni Planning Committee

▪️ Lauren Darwit, Moore Tax Law Group; former Trial Attorney, Civil Trial Section Central
▪️ Michael Desmond, Miller & Chevalier Chartered; former Trial Attorney, Civil Trial Section Western
▪️ Patrick Mullarkey, former Chief, Civil Trial Section Northern
▪️ Jack Townsend, former Trial Attorney, Tax Division Refund Trial Section 2 and Tax Division Appellate Section

Death of Robert L. (Bob) Welsh (4/3/26)

Bob Welsh died on March 26. His obituary is here.

The following is excerpted from the obit relevant to his Tax Division service:

Bob moved to the Washington, D.C. area in 1972 to work as an attorney for the Department of Interior's Board of Land Appeals. He later transitioned to the Department of Justice's Tax Division, where he was a senior litigator for over 40 years, involved in complex litigation and some of the largest tax cases of the time. In that position he contributed an expansive knowledge and love of the law, along with an intelligent and quick-witted sense of levity that drew people to him.

DOJ Tax Alum, Now D.C. District Judge, Blocks Construction on President Trump's Ballroom (3/21/26)

D.C. District Judge Richard J. Leon, court bio here, a DOJ Tax Alum, is in the news for today having blocked the construction of President Trump’s beloved White House Ballroom. See e.g., ABC News Report here. The opinion is here; the order is here. The opinion starts with the following introduction:

The President of the United States is the steward of the White House for future generations of First Families. He is not, however, the owner! President Trump ("the President") claims that Congress has given him authority in existing statutes to construct his East Wing ballroom project and to do it with private funds. The plaintiff, the National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States ("National Trust"), claims the President has no such authority under existing statutes and that a preliminary injunction is necessary to avoid irreparable harm. I have concluded that the National Trust is likely to succeed on the merits because no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have. As such, I must therefore GRANT the National Trust's Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, and the ballroom construction project must stop until Congress authorizes its completion.

The court bio linked above states Judge Leon’s Tax Division and other DOJ service as follows:

Earlier in his career, Judge Leon served at the U.S. Department of Justice in a number of positions including Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Environment Division, Senior Trial Attorney in the Criminal Section of the Tax Division, and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York.