I certainly don’t claim that Tax Court gets the majority of off-the-wall maneuvers, nevertheless litigants both ordinary good faith types and rounders, protesters, defiers, wits, wags, and wiseacres devise novelties. These tend to clump and the new craze becomes a trend.

Y’all will recollect Melvyn Duane Salter’s latest pas seul. What, no? How fleeting is fame. OK, then check out my blogpost “The President in Tax Court,” 10/7/25.

At the time, I thought this was a novel one-off from a rounder with a solid track record.

But maybe Melvyn Duane has started something that has legs.

Leo Cono, Docket No. 17671-24W, filed 10/14/25, is making his debut in Tax Court and on this my blog, but he’s given STJ Lewis (“There’s Music in That Name”) Carluzzo something to think about. Leo made a motion to take a deposition, which in a record-ruler like a Section 7623 whistleblower case is a nonstarter. Even more so, as IRS has moved to toss Leo for want of jurisdiction (sounds like a “no dough, you go.”).

“The relief sought in petitioner’s motion is less than clear, but it appears that the proposed deponent is the President of the United States. Although we wonder about the merits of petitioner’s motion, we think it imprudent to resolve it before addressing the Court’s jurisdiction over this matter.” Order, at p. 1. STJ Lew holds Leo’s motion in abeyance.

STJ Lew, you aren’t the only one wondering. Is the President in Tax Court the next big thing?