The U.S. Supreme Court case Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Estate of Noel et al., 1964, revolved around the issue of tax liability for a trust established by a decedent prior to his death. The decedent had transferred securities into an irrevocable trust, retaining the right to income during his lifetime and giving remainder interests to his children upon their reaching certain ages or upon his death if they were already at those ages when he died. After the decedent's death, the Commissioner assessed deficiencies against both estates on grounds that these transfers were incomplete gifts subject to estate taxes under Section 811(c) (1) (B) of Internal Revenue Code as it stood in 1939 and Section 2036(a)(2) as amended in 1954 respectively. However, after reviewing previous cases related with similar issues such as Church's Estate v. Commissioner and Spiegel's Estate v.Commissioner among others; The Supreme Court ruled that since there was no power retained by either donor or trustee which could alter beneficiaries' enjoyment except survival until specified dates - this transfer constituted completed gifts not taxable under mentioned sections.

In the dissenting opinion for COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE v. ESTATE OF NOEL et al., Justice Harlan argued that the majority's interpretation of Section 812(e) of the Internal Revenue Code was incorrect and overly broad. He contended that this section should not be interpreted to allow a marital deduction for property passing from a decedent to their surviving spouse, if it is subject to a power of appointment by non-surviving issue. In his view, such an interpretation would lead to significant tax avoidance opportunities and undermine Congress' intent in creating the marital deduction provision - which was primarily aimed at ensuring economic security for widows rather than facilitating estate planning or minimizing estate taxes. Furthermore, he criticized the majority's reliance on legislative history as misplaced since there were no clear indications that Congress intended such an expansive reading of Section 812(e).