On December 9, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court granted cert in Skadden’s fourth merits case this Term. In Polselli v. IRS, No. 21-1599 (U.S.), the Court will review whether the IRS needs to notify bank account holders when it issues a summons for their records. The case has significant implications for the public’s privacy rights, because if the IRS can summons records without notice, there is no opportunity for the account holder to challenge the summons. Here, the IRS has summonsed the records of two law firms that represented a delinquent taxpayer, as well as the records of the taxpayer’s wife, claiming that notice was unnecessary because the information would help the agency collect a delinquent third party’s tax liability. The Sixth Circuit agreed, deepening a circuit split. The bank account holders sought cert, arguing that notice is excused only if the delinquent taxpayer owns or has a legal interest in the summonsed records, which was not the case here.
Skadden’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice is briefing and arguing more merits cases during the Supreme Court’s 2022 Term than almost any other firm. Shay Dvoretzky will argue Perez v. Sturgis Public Schools, No. 21-887 (U.S.); Arizona, et al. v. Navajo Nation, et al., No. 21-1484 (U.S.); and Polselli in early 2023. In October 2022, Parker Rider-Longmaid argued his first case before the Court in Reed v. Goertz, No. 21-442 (U.S.).