Curtis B. Keene - Page 42

                                       - 42 -                                         
          sec. 6320(b) (relating to liens), and the right to Court review             
          of a determination made by that office under section 6330(c),               
          sec. 6330(d)(1).  Consequently, in order to analyze properly the            
          meaning of the phrase “in-person interview” in section                      
          7521(a)(1), it is necessary to undertake such an analysis in the            
          context of hearings or conferences historically conducted before            
          Appeals, which were extant in 1988 when Congress enacted section            
          7521 as part of TAMRA and which we held in Davis v. Commissioner,           
          supra, were the types of informal administrative Appeals hearings           
          that Congress contemplated when it enacted section 6330(b).  It             
          is inappropriate to analyze, as the majority does, the meaning of           
          the phrase “in-person interview” in the context of reasons                  
          grounded in the operation and purpose of section 6330 (and                  
          section 6320), which Congress did not make part of the Code until           
          10 years after it enacted section 7521.                                     
               The majority begins its analysis of the meaning of the                 
          phrase “in-person interview” in section 7521(a)(1) by stating:              
               Neither section 7521(a)(1) nor the legislative history                 
               directly and clearly defines or otherwise describes the                
               term “in-person interview”.  Where a term is not                       
               defined in the statute, it is appropriate to accord the                
               term its “ordinary meaning”.  Northwest Forest Resource                
               Council v. Glickman, 82 F.3d 825, 833 (9th Cir. 1996).                 
               And when there is no indication that Congress intended                 
               a specific legal meaning for the term, courts may look                 
               to sources such as dictionaries for a definition.                      
               Muscarello v. United States, 524 U.S. 125, 127-132                     
               (1998); see also Huntsberry v. Commissioner, 83 T.C.                   
               742, 747-748 (1984), in which the Court stated that                    
               “where a statute is clear on its face, * * * we would                  
               require unequivocal evidence of legislative purpose                    





Page:  Previous  32  33  34  35  36  37  38  39  40  41  42  43  44  45  46  47  48  49  50  51  Next

Last modified: May 25, 2011