On August 5, 2019, the Senate confirmed Courtney Dunbar Jones and Emin Toro as nominees to the US Tax Court in a voice vote before leaving for August recess. Jones and Toro will now each serve a 15-year term. President Trump had initially nominated each candidate in 2018, but the Senate was not able to confirm their appointments prior to the end of the last 2018 session—requiring the candidates to be renominated in February of 2019. We reported the initial nominations in “President Trump Announces Intent to Nominate Emin Toro to Tax Court” and “President Trump to Nominate Greaves to Tax Court; Senate Confirms Copeland and Urda.” Furthermore, we reported the renomination of these nominees in “Renominations to Fill Vacancies on the United States Tax Court.”
Prior to her confirmation, Jones served as a senior attorney in the Tax-Exempt and Government Entities division in the Office of Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service. While there, she authored proposed rules related to investments and reliance standards for making good-faith determinations. Prior to his confirmation, Toro represented and counseled multinational companies in tax controversies as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Covington & Burling.
As we previously noted, President Trump previously renominated Judge Mark Van Dyke Holmes and nominated Travis Greaves to serve on the Tax Court. Holmes is currently serving as a senior Tax Court judge while awaiting confirmation. Greaves is currently serving as a deputy assistant attorney general in the US Department of Justice Tax Division. Greaves was cleared by the Finance Committee in a unanimous vote on July 31, 2019, but it remains unclear when the Senate might consider his confirmation.
