Martin v. Commissioner

While I am in agreement with much of the result reached by the majority decision, I must vigorously dissent. I do so with respect, but with an even greater sense of bewilderment and astonishment. I cannot join in my brethren’s blatant and completely needless abdication of their judicial responsibility, in choosing to transform a transient mistake into an error of law for perpetuity. Neither my frustration nor the wrongfulness of such abdication can be assuaged by the straw men erected by the majority to justify their decision.

The majority has opted to rule in this case by means of a cursory…