Why the Biden Administration Was Right Earlier This Week to Change Course in the Obamacare Challenge Pending Before the Court

VIKRAM DAVID AMAR

Illinois Law Dean Vikram David Amar comments on an unusual move by the U.S. Solicitor General’s office, sending a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court amending the position of the federal government in a case currently pending before the Court challenging the Affordable Care Act. Dean Amar explains why the arrival of a new administration should generally not trigger such position reversals, but he argues that the unusual circumstances—specifically the “exceptional implausibility” of the government’s prior filings—may justify the government’s action in this instance.

Read More

Arkansas Times LP v. Waldrip

Docket: 19-1378

Opinion Date: February 12, 2021

Judge: Jane Louise Kelly

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law

Arkansas Times filed suit against various members of the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees (UABT) in their official capacities as trustees concerning Arkansas Act 710 of 2017, seeking a preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of the Act and alleging that it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The Act is entitled "An Act to Prohibit Public Entities from Contracting with and Investing in Companies That Boycott Israel; and for Other Purposes." The district court denied Arkansas Times's motion for a preliminary injunction and dismissed the case. Considering the Act as a whole, the Eighth Circuit concluded that the term "other actions" in the definition of "boycott Israel" and "boycott of Israel" encompasses more than "commercial conduct" similar to refusing to deal or terminating business activities. Instead, the court explained that the Act requires government contractors, as a condition of contracting with Arkansas, not to engage in economic refusals to deal with Israel and to limit their support and promotion of boycotts of Israel. As such, the Act restricts government contractors' ability to participate in speech and other protected, boycott-associated activities recognized by the Supreme Court in N.A.A.C.P. v. Claiborne Hardware Co., 458 U.S. 886 (1982). Therefore, the court concluded that the Act prohibits the contractor from engaging in boycott activity outside the scope of the contractual relationship "on its own time and dime," and such a restriction violates the First Amendment.

Coffey v. Commissioner

Dockets: 18-3256, 18-3259

Opinion Date: February 12, 2021

Judge: William Duane Benton

Areas of Law: Tax Law

This opinion supersedes the opinion issued on December 15, 2020, as rehearing by panel was granted on February 10, 2021. The Eighth Circuit reversed the tax court's grant of taxpayer's motion for summary judgment in an action where the Commissioner had determined that because taxpayer was not a bona fide resident of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), she and her husband owed federal income tax for the 2003 and 2004 tax years. It is undisputed that taxpayers did not intend to file tax returns with the IRS, but only with the USVI's Bureau of Internal Revenue (VIBIR). The court rejected claims that taxpayer and her husband met the USVI nonresident filing requirements, beginning the three-year statute of limitations in 26 U.S.C. 6501(a) and barring the IRS's claims. In this case, the VBIR's action of sending some of their tax documents to the IRS or their action of filing the returns with the Virgin Islands alone do not meet the filing requirements. Therefore, the court reversed the tax court's finding that taxpayer and her husband could assert the statute of limitations as a defense.