That’s a term I hadn’t applied even to Judge Mark V. (“Vittorio Emanuele”) Holmes, who certainly fits the appellation. However, Judge Elizabeth A. (“Tex”) Copeland has drawn a litigant who vies for the title, Craig Walcott, Docket No. 21820-22, filed 5/11/26.

According to Judge Tex Copeland, Craig “pled guilty to one count of willfully attempting to evade tax, in violation of section 7201. After he had served his sentence of three years of imprisonment and three years of supervised release, he moved to vacate the judgment for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, arguing that the United States had failed to identify a specific constitutional taxing power relevant to his case. The district court denied the motion, describing Mr. Walcott’s ‘characterizations of the law and Constitution’ as ‘frivolous.’ Mr. Walcott appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which affirmed the district court. Mr. Walcott now plans to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari, and he requests us to continue the case so that we do not ‘waste this Court’s resources and risk producing a judgment that must be revisited,’ should the Supreme Court grant certiorari and affirm his argument that his criminal conviction was ‘premised on a constitutionally erroneous direct-tax theory’.” Order, at p. 7.

That’s a real never-say-die spirit, worthy of a better cause.

Now, having late-filed for three (count ’em, three) years and facing deficiencies for an aggregate $172K plus nonfiling add-ons and a couple Section 6662 chops (hi, Judge Holmes), Craig has seven (count ’em, seven) questions for IRS. I’ll defer to Judge Tax Copeland to deconstruct these, which she does at Order, pp. 5-6. 

Craig also wants a Rule 103 protective order, preventing IRS from mentioning Section 6673 chops in correspondence. “Mr. Walcott’s questions imply frivolous positions, such that justice does not require us to protect Mr. Walcott from the Commissioner asking the Tax Court to impose a section 6673 penalty on Mr. Walcott.” Order, at p. 6.

I expect we’ll hear more from Craig after trial, assessment, and the inevitable CDP.