In the News

Professor Robert Nassau on Tax Settlements: “The (New York) State Wants to Be a Lot More Aggressive Than the Federal Government”

In a lengthy article on low-income tax debt contributed to USA Today by the Center for Public Integrity, Professor Robert Nassau weighs in on the difference between negotiating debt with the IRS versus New York state.

“The IRS is very reasonable at dealing with lower-income taxpayers who have tax debts,” says Nassau, director of the Sherman F. Levey 57, L’59 Low Income Taxpayer Clinic. “They’re very understanding of people’s circumstances. Compared to the IRS, the New York State Department of [Taxation and] Finance is the devil. The state wants to be a lot more aggressive than the federal government.”

“Very Rare”: Professor Robert Nassau on the Recent Hunter Biden Federal Criminal Tax Evasion Charges

Professor Robert Nassau, director of the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, said the recent Federal criminal tax evasion charges brought against Hunter Biden are “very rare.”

In a BBC News article, Nassau notes that “the criminal statutes cited in this case are pretty broad and could apply to millions of people who don’t file a return for one reason or another… prisons could, theoretically, be overfilled with tax criminals.”

Professor Kat MacFarlane Discusses Disability Discrimination in “Trial puts Howard Hughes Medical Institute—and disabled scientists—in the spotlight”

Professor Kat Macfarlane, director of the College of Law’s Disability Law and Policy Program, discusses Vivien Cheung’s lawsuit against Howard Hughes Medical Institute for disability discrimination. In the Science article “Trial puts Howard Hughes Medical Institute—and disabled scientists—in the spotlight”, she observes that a jury trial in this situation is rare, instead of being settled or tossed from court. The lawsuit touches on the science and research community and discrimination against those with disabilities.

“I’m shocked in a very refreshing way that this is going in front of a jury,” Macfarlane says. “The applicable legal standards are very challenging for plaintiffs with antidiscrimination claims to meet.”

Professor of Law Emeritus William C. Banks Discusses Trump’s Hints at Expanding the Use of the Military in the U.S. During a Second Term

Professor of Law Emeritus William C. Banks has provided legal analysis on the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits using the military for law enforcement purposes, for the Associated Press article “Trump Hints At Expanded Military Role Within The Country. A Legacy Law Could Let Him.”

Banks says that a military officer is not forced to follow “unlawful orders” from the president. That could create a difficult situation for leaders whose units are called on for domestic policing since they can face charges for taking unlawful actions.

“But there is a big thumb on the scale in favor of the president’s interpretation of whether the order is lawful,” Banks says. “You’d have a really big row to hoe and you would have a big fuss inside the military if you chose not to follow a presidential order.”

Banks is the co-author, along with Stephen Dycus, of the book Soldiers on the Home Front: The Domestic Role of the American Military.

Professor Gregory Germain Discusses Trump Trial Strategy

At Salon, Professor Gregory Germain provided feedback on former President Donald Trump’s legal strategy of filing for a mistrial based on ethical issues.

“Unless there are some facts showing a serious ethical violation (which seems very unlikely), it will have no impact on the trial,” says  Germain. “Judge Engoron’s alleged statement that Trump is a ‘bad guy,’ after reviewing the evidence for summary judgment, does not show judicial bias. There would have to be some evidence that Judge Engoron held that view before hearing the evidence.”

Germain has spoken with numerous media outlets on the trial:

The Guardian: Trump trial nears end as prosecutors confident he ‘didn’t have the goods’

Salon: Legal expert: Trump kids will turn fraud trial testimony into a “political spectacle”

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Inquisitr: Trump’s Volatile Courtroom Conduct Could Be Dangerous for His Upcoming Criminal Trials

Professor Robert Nassau on IRS Pursuing More High-Income Audits: “I don’t think the average person has a single thing to worry about in terms of heightened enforcement.”

Professor Robert Nassau, Director of the Sherman F. Levey ’57, L’59 Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, recently spoke with USA Today for their article, “Flush with new funding, the IRS zeroes in on the taxes of uber-wealthy Americans”.

Nassau commented, “I don’t think the average person has a single thing to worry about in terms of heightened enforcement.” He also noted that “I think the main reason they audit poorer people is, it can be done with minimal manpower.”

Professor Gregory Germain Weighs in on Former President Trump’s Court Testimony

In examining former President Trump’s testimony in his New York civil fraud trial for Salon, Professor Gregory Germain says, “While I have no doubt that Trump greatly inflated his net worth, I am very doubtful that a fraud charge will hold up on appeal without strong evidence of justifiable reliance. The unusual nature of the charges, and the weakness of the showing of justifiable reliance and harm, support Trump’s claims that he is being unfairly targeted for political reasons. The polls are showing that the politically-charged case is backfiring in the eyes of the public.”

Professor Shubha Ghosh Discusses the Antitrust Decision Handed Down Against the National Association of Realtors with Bloomberg Law

A Missouri jury last week sided with the plaintiffs against the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and several residential brokerages, finding them guilty of colluding to inflate brokerage commissions. 

Crandall Melvin Professor of Law Shubha Ghosh notes in the Bloomberg Law story “Real Estate Verdict Spurs ‘Race to Courthouse’ Over Collusion” that the NAR can defend itself against current and future claims by disputing a conspiracy took place.

“They could show that they had some policy that each agent acts on their own and they are trying to promote competition among the different agents,” says Ghosh. “NAR is a dominant organization of course, but it’s not clear if they were acting as one entity.”

Professor Kat Macfarlane’s Forthcoming Article “Accommodations Discrimination” Quoted in Psychology Today

In the recent Psychology Today web post “Accommodations and Accessibility: What’s the Difference?”, Professor Kat Macfarlane’s forthcoming American University Law Review article on accommodations is quoted.

Macfarlane’s article Accommodations Discrimination is referenced in the Psychology Today article’s discussion of accommodations that a neurodivergent person may need in a work environment, quoting “Reasonable accommodations should be tools of equality yet can feel more like punishment than remedy.”