Prof. Hickman Cited by Fifth Circuit

The Fifth Circuit cited the scholarship of Professor Kristin Hickman in Burks v. United States, No. 09-11061 (5th Cir. Feb. 9, 2011). In Burks, the Fifth Circuit invalidated Treas. Reg. 301.6501(e)-1, a regulation in which the Treasury Department sought to expand the scope of a six-year limitations period for omitting items of income to include the overstatement of an asset's basis in computing gain on the sale or exchange of the asset. The court's holding rested on its conclusion that the statute's meaning, as informed by existing Supreme Court precedent, was clearly contrary to Treasury's interpretation. Nevertheless, in a lengthy footnote, the court also called into question the procedures Treasury used to promulgate the regulation and cited Hickman's article, "A Problem of Remedy: Responding to Treasury's (Lack of) Compliance with Administrative Procedure Act Rulemaking Requirements," 76 GEO. WASH. L. REV. 1154 (2008), in support of its analysis.