United States v. Allen-Bradley Company/Concurrence Harlan

Mr. Justice HARLAN, concurring.

Both the terms of the statute, and the fact that two courts of such special expertise in tax matters as the Tax Court and Court of Claims have sustained the taxpayer's position, leave me doubtful as to whether, under the statutory provisions in question, the War Production Board had the right to issue partial certificates. The Court finds ambiguity in the statute, but, in resolving that ambiguity as it has, does little more than point out that Congress did not interfere with the authority claimed by the Board.

However, in my view the scope of the Board's powers need not be reached in this case, because, for the reasons given by Judge Lumbard in his opinion for the unanimous Court of Appeals in Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. National Lead Co., 2 Cir., 230 F.2d 161, I think it clear that respondent cannot maintain the present action. On that basis I join in the Court's decision.