Canada v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings - Amicus Invitation (Petition)

No. 01-1317

In the Supreme Court of the United States

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA, PETITIONER

v.

R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO HOLDINGS, INC., ET AL.

ON PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI
TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

BRIEF FOR THE UNITED STATES
AS AMICUS CURIAE

WILLIAM H. TAFT, IV
Legal Advisor
Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
GEORGE B. WOLFE
Deputy General Counsel
Department of the Treasury
Washington, D.C. 20220

LAWRENCE G. WALLACE
Acting Solicitor General
Counsel of Record
ROBERT D. MCCALLUM, JR.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF
EILEEN J. O'CONNOR
Assistant Attorneys General
MICHAEL R. DREEBEN
Deputy Solicitor General
IRVING L. GORNSTEIN
Assistant to the Solicitor
General
MARK B. STERN
DOUGLAS HALLWARD-DRIEMEIER
Attorneys
Department of Justice
Washington, D.C. 20530
(202) 514-2217

QUESTION PRESENTED

Whether the "revenue rule" precludes a foreign sovereign from bringing a civil RICO claim where the foreign sovereign's alleged injury is lost tax revenue and associated law enforcement costs.

In the Supreme Court of the United States

No. 01-1317

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA, PETITIONER

v.

R.J. REYNOLDS TOBACCO HOLDINGS, INC., ET AL.

ON PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI
TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

BRIEF FOR THE UNITED STATES
AS AMICUS CURIAE

This brief is submitted in response to the Court's order inviting the Solicitor General to express the views of the United States.

STATEMENT

The Attorney General of Canada (petitioner) filed suit on behalf of the Government of Canada in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, alleging that RJ Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc., RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, RJ Reynolds Tobacco International Inc., RJR-McDonald, Inc., RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company, PR, Northern Brands International, Inc., and the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers Council (respondents) engaged in a scheme to smuggle cigarettes across the United States-Canadian border in order to avoid the payment of Canadian taxes, in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. 1961 et seq. Pet. App. A3. The district court dismissed petitioner's complaint. Id. at B1-B40. In reliance on the principle that a United States court will not enforce a foreign country's tax claims (the revenue rule), the court of appeals affirmed. Id. at A1-A56.

1. Petitioner's complaint makes the following allegations, which, on a motion to dismiss, must be accepted as true. In 1991, Canada doubled the taxes it imposed on tobacco products. Pet. App. A4. Respondents thereafter allegedly devised and implemented a scheme to avoid payment of the tax. Ibid. Respondents allegedly exported cigarettes from Canada and delivered them to distributers in Foreign Trade Zones in New York. Id. at A4-A5. The distributors then shipped the cigarettes to the St. Regis/Akwesasne Indian Reservation, which straddles the New York-Canadian border. Ibid. From there, distributors smuggled the cigarettes back into Canada for sale on the Canadian black market. Ibid.

In 1992, Canada imposed an export tax on cigarettes. In order to avoid that tax, respondents allegedly shipped raw tobacco from Canada to Puerto Rico where they manufactured cigarettes made to look like they had been manufactured in Canada. The cigarettes were then allegedly delivered to Foreign Trade Zones in New York, brought to the Reservation, and smuggled into Canada. Respondents also allegedly employed a company to process Canadian tobacco in North Carolina. The tobacco was then smuggled into Canada for sale on the black market. Pet. App. A5.

In conducting their scheme, respondents allegedly used United States mails and wires to make payments and to place and receive orders. Pet. App. A5-A6. Respondents allegedly made several million dollars in profits as a result of their scheme. Id. at A5.

Petitioner filed suit in federal district court, alleging that respondents had engaged in a pattern of racketeering in violation of RICO. Pet. App. A6. In particular, petitioner alleged that respondents' smuggling scheme involved repeated instances of mail fraud and wire fraud. Ibid. In order to recover under RICO, a civil plaintiff must establish that a RICO violation has caused injury to the plaintiff's "business or property." 18 U.S.C. 1964(c). In an attempt to satisfy that requirement, petitioner alleged that respondents' pattern of racketeering had caused injury to Canada's "property" in the form of lost tax revenue and increased law enforcement costs. Pet. App. A6-A7. As relief, petitioner sought treble damages for Canada's lost tax revenue and law enforcement costs, and various forms of equitable relief. Id. at A7.

The district court dismissed petitioner's claim under RICO for lost tax revenue based on the "revenue rule," Pet. App. B8-B17, under which courts of one sovereign will not enforce the tax judgments or unadjudicated tax claims of another sovereign. The district court dismissed petitioner's claim for increased law enforcement costs on the ground that such costs do not constitute an injury to "business or property" within the meaning of RICO. Id. at B31-B39. Finally, the district court dismissed petitioner's claims for equitable relief on the ground that RICO authorizes only the United States to seek equitable relief. Id. at B39-B40.

2. The court of appeals affirmed, Pet. App. A1-A67, holding that "the revenue rule bars [petitioner's] action in its entirety," id. at A10. The court explained that the "revenue rule is a longstanding common law doctrine providing that courts of one sovereign will not enforce final tax judgments or unadjudicated tax claims of other sovereigns," and is justified by "respect for sovereignty, concern for judicial role and competence, and separation of powers." Ibid. In particular, "[w]hen a foreign nation appears as a plaintiff in our courts seeking enforcement of its revenue laws, the judiciary risks being drawn into issues and disputes of foreign relations policy that are assigned to-and better handled by-the political branches of government." Id. at A18-A19.

The court of appeals also noted that the United States has entered into treaties with foreign governments that have carefully limited the circumstances under which foreign governments may invoke the assistance of United States courts to enforce foreign tax liability. Pet. App. A27-A28. Against that background, the court of appeals explained, "courts must be wary of intruding in a way that undermines carefully conceived and negotiated policy choices." Id. at A28. The court of appeals found it particularly significant that a treaty between the United States and Canada bars assistance for claims against citizens of the host country, permits each party to determine whether a particular tax liability should be enforced, and requires the party requesting assistance to certify that the revenue claim has been finally determined. Id. at A29-A30. Because the Treaty "specifically exclude[s] the type of assistance Canada seeks in this case," the court concluded, permitting petitioner's claim to go forward would "ignor[e] and undermin[e] the treaty negotiation process and the clearly expressed views of the political branches of the United States." Id. at A34.

The court of appeals rejected petitioner's contention that the revenue rule is inapplicable because petitioner filed suit under RICO, and not under Canadian tax law. Pet. App. A40-A47. The court noted that under established principles of statutory construction, federal statutes are interpreted to preserve well-established common law rules except when a statutory purpose to the contrary is evident. Id. at A43. Applying that principle, the court found "no language in RICO or in its legislative history that demonstrates any intent by Congress to abrogate the revenue rule." Id. at A46. The court also rejected petitioner's characterization of its claim as one arising "solely" under United States law, concluding that "[o]n the contrary, Canada seeks to use the United States law to enforce, both directly and indirectly, its tax laws." Id. at A49. The court reasoned that because petitioner seeks through its RICO claim to "have a United States court require [respondents] to reimburse Canada for its unpaid taxes, plus a significant penalty due to RICO's treble damages provision, * * * Canada's object is clearly to recover allegedly unpaid taxes." Id. at A50. The court viewed petitioner's claim for law enforcement costs as "an indirect attempt to have a United States court enforce Canadian revenue laws," ibid., because "[t]he primary purpose identified by Canada for using its police forces to stop smuggling was to enforce its customs and excise taxes." Id. at A51.

The court of appeals distinguished prior circuit precedent holding that the revenue rule does not apply to criminal prosecutions by the United States of schemes to defraud a foreign nation of taxes. Pet. App. A34-A37. The court explained that because such criminal prosecutions are brought to serve the interest of the United States, and are subject to Executive Branch oversight, "the foreign relations interests of the United States may be accommodated throughout the litigation." Id. at A35. "In contrast," the court observed, "a civil RICO case brought to recover tax revenues by a foreign sovereign to further its own interests, may be, but is not necessarily, consistent with the policies and interests of the United States." Id. at A35-A36.

Judge Calabresi dissented from the panel's ruling. Pet. App. A56-A57. In his view, the revenue rule has no application to petitioner's suit, because "Canadian tax laws come into play only indirectly, as a factor to be used in the calculation of damages, and do so entirely because the RICO statute itself makes the Canadian laws relevant to that calculation." Id. at A57.

DISCUSSION

This RICO action by the Attorney General of Canada to recover damages for illegal tobacco smuggling raises issues that are of importance to both Canada and the United States. The United States has a strong interest in combatting such cross-border illegal activity, as is demonstrated by the government's use of federal criminal law to prosecute schemes involving facts similar to those alleged here. Canada has a strong interest in recovering damages for financial injuries caused to it by fraud. And both countries have a mutual interest in collaborative efforts to prevent and deter such international smuggling schemes. Nevertheless, on the question presented in this case, the Second Circuit correctly held that the revenue rule precludes a foreign government from bringing a civil RICO claim where its alleged injury is lost tax revenue.

The revenue rule serves important separation-of-powers interests that transcend the particular context of the present action by Canada. The rule avoids involving the judiciary in making judgments about foreign tax policies and procedures and interwoven foreign policy considerations, and it leaves the Executive Branch and the Senate free to decide through the treaty-making process the extent to which exceptions to that principle should be recognized. The rule also leaves the Executive Branch free to use federal criminal law to protect against frauds based in the United States that seek to avoid other countries' tax laws. RICO was drafted against the backdrop of the revenue rule, which has a long pedigree in this country and abroad. There is no evidence that Congress intended to displace the revenue rule in this context and to permit civil damages actions by foreign sovereigns to recover alleged tax losses. Because the court of appeals correctly resolved the question before it, because there is no conflict with a decision of any other court of appeals, and because the application of the revenue rule by the Second Circuit properly respects the different roles of the courts and the political branches in matters involving foreign taxes, the petition for a writ of certiorari should be denied.

1. The revenue rule is a long established and widely accepted principle of the common law under which courts of one sovereign will not enforce the tax judgments and unadjudicated tax claims of another sovereign. Pet. App. A10. The rule can be traced to the eighteenth century when British courts declined to apply foreign revenue laws that would have hindered trade in British goods. See Boucher v. Lawson, 95 Eng. Rep. 53, 56 (K.B. 1734) (Lord Hardwicke, C.J.). In an early case, Lord Mansfield stated the rule broadly as providing that "no country ever takes notice of the revenue laws of another." Holman v. Johnson, 98 Eng. Rep. 1120, 1121 (1775). Since then, numerous domestic and foreign courts have applied the rule to bar claims that, in substance, seek to enforce foreign revenue laws. See, e.g., QRS 1 Aps v. Frandsen, [1999] 3 All E.R. 289 (C.A. 1999); Her Majesty the Queen in Right of the Province of British Columbia v. Gilbertson, 597 F.2d 1161 (9th Cir. 1979); Banco Do Brasil, S.A. v. A.C. Israel Commodity Co., 239 N.Y.S.2d 872 (1963); United States v. Harden, [1963] S.C.R. 366 (Sup. Ct. Can.); Peter Buchanan Ltd. v. McVey, [1955] A.C. 516 (Ir. H. Ct. 1950), aff'd, [1955] A.C. 530 (Ir. S. C. 1951).

This Court has not had occasion to decide the extent to which the revenue rule binds courts of the United States. But it has recognized that courts in this country and elsewhere have applied that rule to preclude one country from seeking to enforce its tax laws in the courts of another. Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, 376 U.S. 398, 413-414 (1964) (recognizing the "principle enunciated in federal and state cases that a court need not give effect to the penal or revenue laws of foreign countries"); Oklahoma v. Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Ry., 220 U.S. 290, 299 (1911) ("The rule that the courts of no country execute the penal laws of another applies not only to prosecutions and sentences for crimes and misdemeanors, but to all suits in favor of the State for the recovery of pecuniary penalties for any violation of statutes for the protection of its revenue or other municipal laws, and to all judgments for such penalties.") (emphasis deleted) (quoting Wisconsin v. Pelican Insur. Co., 127 U.S. 265, 290 (1888), overruled by Milwaukee County v. M.E. White Co., 296 U.S. 268, 278 (1935), to the extent that it held that States are not bound by the Full Faith and Credit Clause to enforce the tax judgments of other States).

The revenue rule is not only a well-established feature of the common law and of international law; it provides the background understanding against which the United States has entered into treaties that address the extent to which a foreign nation may seek assistance from the United States and its courts in enforcing its tax claims. In entering into those treaties, the United States has created carefully limited exceptions to the principle that a foreign country may not enforce its tax claims in United States courts. The recent treaty with Canada is illustrative. That treaty excludes claims against citizens or companies of the host country; it gives the government discretion to decline a particular application for assistance; and it provides only for the enforcement of finally adjudicated claims. Pet. App. A29-A30. No provision in the treaty authorizes either country to proceed directly in the other's courts to collect a tax claim; each government is instead to request assistance from the other government. See, e.g., United States v. Stuart, 489 U.S. 353 (1989) (enforcing IRS summons issued pursuant to treaty request in aid of Canadian tax investigation). Other treaties have limited the right to assistance still further-to assistance necessary "to [e]nsure that the exemptions or reduced rates of tax provided under the respective conventions will not be enjoyed by persons not entitled to such benefits." S. Exec. Rep. No. 1, 82d Cong., 1st Sess. 21 (1951).

While the revenue rule has been the subject of some judicial and scholarly criticism, it is supported by several related separation-of-powers considerations. First, courts lack the institutional competence to decide when it is in the interest of the United States to permit a foreign country to enforce its tax laws in United States courts. The court of appeals' hypothetical tax laws (Pet. App. A17) illustrate the difficulties that can arise when a court is forced to make such judgments. For example, a court is not well-positioned to decide whether the interests of the United States are served by enforcing a tax that is designed to discourage the sale of a United States newspaper, or that makes it prohibitively expensive to use United States parts, or that is imposed on members of a particular race, nationality, or religion. More subtle judgments about tax rates or the fairness of an underlying collection regime also would inappropriately involve the courts in foreign relations matters. Nor do courts have the competence to decide which foreign countries should be able to use the courts of this country to collect tax revenue and which should not. Those judgments are more appropriately made by the Executive and Legislative Branches.

Second, when a court enforces a foreign tax claim, it cannot ensure that the United States will enjoy a reciprocal privilege in the foreign country's courts. Indeed, judicial enforcement of foreign tax claims would deprive the Executive Branch of leverage to secure such reciprocity through the negotiation of bilateral treaties.

Finally, judicial enforcement of foreign tax claims that are not authorized by treaty would intrude on the Executive Branch's treaty-making authority as well as the specific policy judgments reflected in particular treaties. Those considerations fully justify the continued application of the revenue rule.

2. The Attorney General of Canada does not challenge the general principle that courts may not enforce the tax claims of a foreign sovereign. He instead argues (Pet. 9-11) that the revenue rule is inapplicable in this case because his claim arises under RICO, not under Canada's tax laws. The reliance of the complaint on the RICO statute does not render the revenue rule inapplicable.

a. The RICO statute was drafted against the background of the common law principle that courts will not enforce the tax claims of a foreign sovereign. When a common law principle is as well established as the revenue rule, "the courts may take it as given that Congress has legislated with an expectation that the principle will apply except 'when a statutory purpose to the contrary is evident.'" Astoria Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n v. Solimino, 501 U.S. 104, 108 (1991).

That principle has particular force here because the revenue rule has served as the foundation for United States tax treaties. There is no indication in the text or history of the RICO statute that Congress intended to override the established principle that courts will not enforce a foreign sovereign's tax claims. Nor is there any indication in the text or history of RICO that Congress intended to depart from the judgment of the political branches that exceptions to the revenue rule should be carefully limited and embodied in bilateral treaties. Accordingly, RICO cannot properly be read to authorize a suit that would otherwise be barred by the revenue rule.

b. The revenue rule bars the instant claim. Petitioner contends that Canada's claim arises under RICO, rather than Canadian tax law. But, while petitioner has asserted a claim under RICO, the injury that petitioner asserts and the damages that petitioner seeks to collect depend on Canadian tax law. In particular, petitioner asserts that Canada is injured in its property because respondents caused a loss of tax revenue, and petitioner seeks to collect as damages three times that revenue loss. Petitioner's action is therefore predicated on both RICO and Canadian tax law. Claims of that character have long been understood to fall within the prohibition of the revenue rule.

The revenue rule bars indirect as well as direct efforts to enforce foreign tax claims. Harden, [1963] S.C.R. at 371; Banco Do Brasil, S.A., 239 N.Y.S.2d at 875; see also QRS 1 Aps, 3 All E.R. at 291, 293; Peter Buchanan Ltd., supra, [1955] A.C. at 529. A foreign sovereign's claim that relies on a domestic law of general application, but that seeks to recover tax loss as damages, necessarily reflects an effort to enforce a tax claim indirectly.

Decisions applying the revenue rule support that conclusion. For example, in Harden, the United States brought suit in Canada to recover for breach of a contract that settled a tax liability dispute. Although the suit was founded on private contract law, the Canadian Supreme Court held that the "the special principle that foreign States cannot directly or indirectly enforce their tax claims [in our courts]" barred the claim. [1963] S.C.R. at 371. The court reasoned that when "the whole object of the suit is to collect tax for a foreign revenue, and that this will be the sole result of a decision in favour of the plaintiff, then a court is entitled to reject the claim by refusing jurisdiction." Id. at 372-373. Similarly, in Banco Do Brasil, S.A., the government of Brazil, through its central bank, brought suit in New York state court, alleging that a New York importer had committed fraud by conspiring with a Brazilian exporter to evade currency controls. 239 N.Y.S.2d at 873. The New York Court of Appeals held that the revenue rule precluded Brazil's suit. The court explained that Brazil "is seeking, by use of an action for conspiracy to defraud, to enforce what is clearly a revenue law." Id. at 875.

Those decisions reflect a sound application of the revenue rule. If foreign sovereigns could avoid the revenue rule by recharacterizing a foreign tax claim as a cause of action based on domestic law, such as common law fraud, or unjust enrichment, or breach of contract, or injury from a pattern of racketeering, the revenue rule would lose much of its force. Many, if not most, schemes to avoid the payment of taxes can be recharacterized in such terms.

c. Equally important, a foreign sovereign's claim that relies on a domestic law of general application, but that asserts tax loss as the basis for recovery, implicates the separation-of-powers concerns that underlie the revenue rule. Courts lack the institutional competence to determine whether enforcement of such claims would serve the interests of the United States; courts can provide no guarantee that the United States may enforce a similar claim in the courts of the foreign sovereign; and judicial enforcement of such a claim would intrude on the Executive Branch's treaty making authority and the policy judgments reflected in specific United States treaties.

The latter two considerations are strongly implicated in this case. The Canada Supreme Court's decision in Harden suggests that the United States would not be able to enforce a comparable claim in Canadian courts. And allowing Canada's suit to go forward would undermine specific policy judgments reflected in the United States' treaty with Canada, including the judgment that only finally adjudicated tax claims may be enforced in United States courts.

Petitioner argues (Reply Br. 6) that separation-of-powers concerns are inapplicable here because Congress has made the relevant policy judgment by authorizing any person to sue to recover damages for an injury to property that is caused by a pattern of racketeering. But there is no evidence that when Congress enacted that general language, it intended to permit the enforcement of any tax claim by any foreign government, as long as the claim could be recharacterized as a violation of RICO. Nor is there evidence that Congress intended to permit the enforcement of such a claim without regard to whether the foreign country would permit the United States to enforce a comparable claim in its courts. And there is no indication that Congress intended to depart from the previous judgment of the political branches that exceptions to the revenue rule should be carefully limited and embodied in bilateral treaties. Indeed, if Canada's RICO suit were deemed permissible here, the doors to United States courts would also apparently be open to RICO treble damages actions by countries far less friendly to the United States, based on tax systems of questionable compatibility with our own, and perhaps against a background in which the political branches had rejected or been unable to secure any reciprocal treaty obligations to assist in tax collection efforts. The court of appeals therefore correctly concluded that a claim such as petitioner's RICO claim for tax loss is barred by the revenue rule.1

3. The court of appeals in this case is the first and only appellate court to resolve the question whether the revenue rule bars a foreign sovereign's claim under RICO for damages based on tax loss. There is therefore no conflict in the circuits on that question that would warrant this Court's review.2

Petitioner contends that review is warranted in this case, even absent such a conflict, because the court of appeals' decision undermines efforts to combat international smuggling (Pet. 12-15) and implicates the rights of a foreign sovereign (Pet. 16-17). Collaboration between the United States and Canada to deter and punish such smuggling is unquestionably an important objective. But the court of appeals expressly reaffirmed its holdings in prior cases that the revenue rule does not bar a criminal prosecution by the United States of conduct that is designed to defraud a foreign country of tax revenue. Pet. App. A34-A37 (reaffirming United States v. Trapilo, 130 F.3d 547, 549 (2d Cir. 1997), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 812 (1998); United States v. Pierce, 224 F.3d 158 (2d Cir. 2000)). Such prosecutions do not implicate the revenue rule because that rule applies only when the plaintiff is a foreign government or someone acting on its behalf, and the plaintiff is seeking to vindicate a foreign government's interest in collecting taxes. See Re Reid, [1970] 17 D.L.R. (3d) 199, 205 (B.C. Ct. App.) (noting that in all the cases where the revenue rule had been invoked "the foreign State was * * * the plaintiff, the claimant or the instigator of the proceedings"); Peter Buchanan Ltd., [1955] A.C. at 527 (critical fact was "that right is being enforced at the instigation of a foreign authority").

The distinction between a criminal prosecution brought by the United States and a civil action for the recovery of tax revenue brought by a foreign sovereign is critical, and it precisely aligns with the policies underlying the revenue rule. As the court of appeals explained, criminal prosecutions vindicate the interests of the United States, and they are subject to Executive Branch control. Pet. App. A35. In contrast, a foreign sovereign brings a civil RICO action to further its own interest in collecting taxes, and that interest is not in all circumstances necessarily consistent with the interests of the United States. Id. at A35-A36.3

Because the United States retains authority to prosecute international smugglers, the court of appeals' decision leaves intact a powerful means to deter and punish such conduct. At the same time, it properly reserves the decision whether to address, in a judicial forum, schemes involving foreign tax laws in the hands of the Executive Branch of our own government. Canada, for its part, has means to vindicate its interest in attacking international smuggling operations by filing suit to enforce its laws in Canadian courts and by requesting cooperation from the United States under mutual assistance treaties. A decision to authorize further judicial steps, such as treble damages actions against United States citizens, should await a clearer statement in a treaty or in legislation. The correct application of the revenue rule in this case does not call for this Court's intervention.

CONCLUSION

The petition for a writ of certiorari should be denied.

Respectfully submitted.

WILLIAM H. TAFT, IV
Legal Advisor
Department of State
GEORGE B. WOLFE
Deputy General Counsel
Department of the Treasury

LAWRENCE G. WALLACE
Acting Solicitor General
Counsel of Record
ROBERT D. MCCALLUM, JR.
MICHAEL CHERTOFF
EILEEN J. O'CONNOR
Assistant Attorneys General
MICHAEL R. DREEBEN
Deputy Solicitor General
IRVING L. GORNSTEIN
Assistant to the Solicitor
General
MARK B. STERN
DOUGLAS HALLWARD-DRIEMEIER
Attorneys

OCTOBER 2002

1 In addition to seeking damages based on tax loss, petitioner also seeks damages for increased law enforcement costs and various forms of equitable relief. Petitioner does not contend that if his claim for tax loss is barred by the revenue rule, his other claims for relief would nonetheless fall outside the revenue rule. As the court of appeals explained (Pet. App. A50-A51), petitioner's increased law enforcement costs are directly associated with petitioner's effort to collect unpaid taxes. And petitioner's claims for equitable relief seek to vindicate the same interest in avoiding tax loss and increased law enforcement costs as do petitioner's claims for damages. In any event, because petitioner does not press any argument that is specific to his claims for law enforcement costs and equitable relief, the question whether those claims can be distinguished, for purposes of the revenue rule, from petitioner's claim for lost revenue, is not presented here.

The district court dismissed petitioner's claims for equitable relief on the ground that only the United States may seek equitable relief under RICO. Pet. App. B39-B40. This Court granted certiorari to resolve that issue in Operation Rescue v. National Organization For Women, Inc., No. 01-1119, and Scheidler v. National Organization For Women, Inc, 122 S. Ct. 1604 (2002) (No. 01-1118). Because the court of appeals upheld dismissal of petitioner's claim for equitable relief on the basis of the revenue rule, and because the petition in this case does not raise the question presented in Operation Rescue and Scheidler, there is no reason to hold the petition in this case pending the decisions in those cases.

2 There are at least two other cases pending in the lower courts that raise similar issues. The European Community v. RJR Nabisco, Inc., 150 F. Supp. 2d 456 (E.D.N.Y. 2001); The Republic of Ecuador v. Philip Morris Companies, 188 F. Supp. 2d 1359 (S.D. Fla. 2002). But those cases have not yet produced appellate court decisions.

3 For the reasons discussed above, the First and Fourth Circuits erred in holding that the revenue rule bars the United States from criminally prosecuting under the wire fraud statute a scheme that is designed to deprive a foreign sovereign of tax revenue. See United States v. Boots, 80 F.3d 580 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 905 (1996); United States v. Pasquantino, No. 01-4463, 2002 WL 31159094 (4th Cir. Sept. 30, 2002). The conflict in the circuits on that question is not at issue here.

( The Solicitor General is disqualified in this case.
** The General Counsel is recused in this case.