Warren

concurring.

When judges ask for supplemental briefing on an issue, it does not mean, as the dissent mistakenly asserts, that they have decided to reach a particular result. The purpose of requesting briefing in this case is to obtain more information in order to make a more informed and reasoned decision about whether to address an issue and, if so, how the issue should be resolved. Information, speech, and truth do not hurt; they only shed light. That is a fundamental tenet not only of our judicial system but of our democracy. It is possible, however, that in some instances those who do not want to allow speech — or briefs- — have a preordained view of important issues and may, for some reason, not want to discover or even acknowledge what the law or the Constitution requires.

Our dissenting colleague’s assertion that the constitutionality of Internal Revenue Code § 107(2) 1 is “not necessary to a just resolution of the simple issue of statutory interpretation presented to us,” misper-ceives the issue in this case: To what tax deduction is Reverend Warren entitled? Rev. Warren argues that § 107(2) entitles him to a parsonage housing allowance exclusion that would cover all of…

Dissenting.

I respectfully dissent from entry of the Order for Supplemental Briefing because my fellow panel judges, acting sua sponte, persist in reaching out to test the constitutionality of a fifty-year-old statute giving a parsonage exclusion from gross income to clerics of recognized religious organizations who either live in church-provided housing or receive an allowance from their church to apply toward their housing needs. The parties to this appeal have not questioned the constitutionality of the tax exclusion enacted by Congress and each party has advised the Court that they do not wish to do so. Inflating this case to constitutional stature is wholly unnecessary to resolve the narrow issue of statutory construction presented to us for decision. I believe it injudicious to appoint an amicus curiae to attack the constitutionality of the parsonage income tax exclusion when no one but the other panel judges improvidently wish to reach that issue.

The narrow issue properly before us is whether, under Internal Revenue Code § 107(2), 26 U.S.C. § 107 (2), Rev. and Mrs. Richard Warren may claim an unlimited parsonage housing allowarice exclusion based on actual expenditures…

ORDER

This Court hereby appoints Professor Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of *1120 Southern California Law School to serve as amicus curiae and requests that the parties and amici submit supplemental briefs on the following issues:

The supplemental briefs shall be submitted within 45 days f the date of this order and shall be limited to 10,000 words. Reply briefs of not more than 5,000 words may be submitted within 21 days of the due date of the supplemental briefs.