Susan Morse (Texas): Jury Rights in Civil Tax Cases?? (reviewing Steve R. Johnson (FSU), Jarkesy, the Seventh Amendment, and Tax Penalties, 79 U. Mia. L. Rev. 461 (2025))

Does the Seventh Amendment provide a taxpayer with the right to a jury before the government imposes tax penalties? This issue is live at the Tax Court, at Courts of Appeals, and at the Supreme Court. Fortunately, the tax literature includes two entries on this topic, one by Professor Steve Johnson and another by Professor Bryan Camp. Both are somewhat skeptical about a jury trial requirement, thought they emphasize different aspects of the question. Their work should illuminate the conversation, and inform the litigation.

Tax penalties can avoid a jury trial requirement if a court decides they are remedial, or if a court decides that the public rights exception applies, or if a court decides that the availability of a jury trial in a district court refund suit is sufficient to satisfy the Seventh Amendment. Regardless of how courts decide cases about the jury right in civil tax fraud, the courts, the litigants, and the academy should read both articles. This is impact scholarship, beautifully timed and indisputably useful.