A
rejected the
request to delay next steps in the fight over
for importers, after the United States
struck down the president’s signature
In an order Monday, the
for the Federal Circuit took immediate steps to reopen the legal proceedings and
to the U.S. Court of International Trade. The court denied the government’s request to maintain a pause for as long as four months.
A group of small businesses whose case was before the justices had urged the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC, to immediately close out its phase of the litigation so that they can move ahead with pursuing refunds as soon as possible.
More than 2,000 tariff lawsuits have been filed so far, nearly all of which were lodged in the trade court in New York after the Supreme Court heard arguments in November. The trade court paused all of the cases until the Supreme Court ruled.
The Federal Circuit didn’t offer a written explanation for its decision, and there was no dissent listed.
The U.S. Justice Department had argued that the appeals court should wait not only for the Supreme Court to finalize its judgment, but also “to allow the political branches an opportunity to consider options.”
The Supreme Court usually takes 32 days to formally close out a case. The government had urged the appeals court to keep the proceedings on hold for an additional 90 days before sending it back to the trade court.
In a 6-3 ruling announced on Feb. 20, the court held that Trump’s use of a 1977 emergency powers law to impose the global tariffs was unlawful.
The administration appeared to acknowledge that a refund process is inevitable in recent court filings, but didn’t offer an explicit commitment to repay businesses the full amount of levies they paid over the past year.
President Donald Trump has added to the uncertainty about the refund question, telling reporters shortly after the Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20, “I guess it has to get litigated.” He also suggested the administration might push the justices to reconsider their ruling, a request the high court almost never grants.
The trade court hasn’t signalled yet how it plans to proceed.
Liberty Justice Center, a legal advocacy group representing importers in the case that went before the Supreme Court, said in a statement that, “For months, the government argued for delay. Today, the courts made clear: enough.”
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.