Opinion
21509-18
12-27-2023
FANNIE WRIGHT, Petitioner v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE, Respondent
ORDER
Joseph H. Gale, Judge.
Pending before the Court is petitioner's Motion to Declare 26 U.S.C. § 7443(f) Unconstitutional, filed July 18, 2023. Petitioner contends therein that section 7443(f) impermissibly restricts the President's power to remove Judges of this Court, in violation of separation of powers principles. We will deny the Motion.
Unless otherwise indicated, statutory references are to the Internal Revenue Code, Title 26 U.S.C., in effect at all relevant times.
We have previously held that section 7443(f) is constitutional. Battat v. Commissioner, 148 T.C. 32, 52 (2017) ("[R]egardless of the branch location of the Tax Court, provisions authorizing removal of Tax Court Judges are constitutional."). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has twice reached the same conclusion, albeit on a rationale that differs from our own. See Crim v. Commissioner, 66 F.4th 999, 1000-01 (D.C. Cir. 2023), aff'g T.C. Memo. 2021-117; Kuretski v. Commissioner, 755 F.3d 929, 938-39 (D.C. Cir. 2014), aff'g T.C. Memo. 2012-262. We see no grounds to depart from our precedent.
Because petitioner resided in Florida when she filed the Petition, this case is presumptively appealable to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. See § 7482(b)(1)(F). That court has not passed upon the constitutionality of section 7443(f). We thus "foster uniformity by giving effect to our own views," Golsen v. Commissioner, 54 T.C. 742, 757 (1970), aff'd, 445 F.2d 985 (10th Cir. 1971), i.e., those expressed in Battat.
The foregoing considered, it is
ORDERED that petitioner's Motion to Declare 26 U.S.C. § 7443(f) Unconstitutional, filed July 18, 2023, is denied.