United States v. Jose, 519 U.S. 54, 3 (1996) (per curiam)

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56

UNITED STATES v. JOSE

Per Curiam

for civil tax examination purposes only, not for a criminal investigation. The record does not indicate that the Examination Division has attempted to disclose the documents to any other IRS division, thereby triggering the five-day notice requirement. Thus, any detrimental impact the district court's order may have on the IRS's investigation is, at this time, purely speculative. Accordingly, the IRS's appeal is not ripe for review." Ibid.

The dissenting judge concluded that the case was "ready and ripe" for decision, id., at 1486, and stated at some length her reasons for believing that the restriction approved by the District Court was unwarranted. The United States and Revenue Agent Nishimura petitioned for certiorari. We called for a response from trustee Jose, but he filed no brief in opposition. We now reverse.

We express no opinion on the merits of the underlying dispute. The matter, indeed, is one that implicates an inter-circuit conflict.* We think it clear, however, that the District Court's final order is indeed final. It is a decision dispositively granting in part and denying in part the remedy requested. The IRS prevailed to the extent that the District Court enforced the summonses. The Service did not

*Compare United States v. Barrett, 837 F. 2d 1341, 1349-1351 (CA5 1988) (en banc) (per curiam) (District Court lacks authority to place conditions on enforcement of IRS summons), cert. denied, 492 U. S. 926 (1989), with United States v. Zolin, 809 F. 2d 1411, 1417 (CA9 1987) (upholding conditions on enforcement of IRS summons), aff'd by an equally divided Court, 491 U. S. 554, 561 (1989), and United States v. Author Servs., Inc., 804 F. 2d 1520, 1525-1526 (CA9 1986) (District Court has "considerable" discretion to set terms of enforcement order); see also Church of Scientology of Cal. v. United States, 506 U. S. 9, 14-15, n. 7 (1992) (recognizing split). The existing intercircuit conflict concerns judicial limitations on disclosure by the agency seeking summons enforcement to other governmental agencies. The instant case involves the related but distinct question of the District Court's authority to restrict sharing of information within an agency.

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