The Rule of Law as a Law of Standards: Interpreting the Internal Revenue Code

In a recent essay on what he identifies as “customary deviations” from the dictates of the Internal Revenue Code, Professor Larry Zelenak asserts that the Internal Revenue Service has regularly created administrative deviations from the Code that produce taxpayer-favorable results that cannot be challenged in the courts because taxpayers lack standing to bring such challenges. He worries that “the lack of any judicial check on unauthorized giveaways by tax administrators threatens rule-of-law values,” and he concludes by proposing “legislation aimed at retaining the practical advantages of