Article by
Erica L. Horn,
Madonna E. Schueler and Gregory A. Nowak*
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in United States v.
Carlton turned 20 last year, but the core issue within the
case remains embattled. In this article, authors Erica Horn,
Madonna Schueler and Gregory Nowak discuss the Carlton
decision and several 2014 cases on which it had an impact.
Introduction
Last year marked the twentieth anniversary of the U.S. Supreme
Court's decision in United States v.
Carlton,1 but the battle continues over the
constitutionality of retroactive tax legislation. Taxpayers
continue to fight state efforts to amend tax legislation
retroactively based on the Due Process Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment, which provides that no state shall deprive
any person of ''life, liberty, or property without due
process of law.''2 States have fought back with
equal zeal, and the results have been anything but uniform. This
article revisits the Court's decision in Carlton and
the
