Appeals Court Blocks Trump Administration Effort To Delay Fight Over Tariff Refunds

A federal appeals court is rejecting a request by the Trump administration to delay the court battle over the refund of tariffs for at least 90 days after the Supreme Court ruled they were illegally levied.The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 last month that President Trump’s reliance on an emergency powers act to impose worldwide tariffs was not justified. The justices did not issue a decision on the fate of possible refunds, however, and sent the case back to the lower courts for those deliberations.The Trump administration asked for a months-long pause before the case would go back to the United States Court of International Trade to decide on the refunds.A group of Democratic states joined small businesses that successfully sued over the tariffs to ask the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to deny the request so that refunds could be sought as soon as possible.The appeals court said Monday that a delay was not warranted and sent the case immediately back to the trade court. The appeals court didn’t explain its decision and no dissent was noted.“For months, the government argued for delay. Today, the courts made clear: enough,” The Liberty Justice Center, which represented the importers in front of the Supreme Court, said in a statement on Monday. “American businesses that paid illegal tariffs are one step closer to getting their money back.”“We will be proceeding immediately to get the refunds Americans are owed,” Neal Katyal, who argued the case, said in an X post.Mr. Trump levied the worldwide reciprocal tariffs as part of his “Liberation Day” executive order, relying on the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Opponents said the import duties were a use of the law that lawmakers never intended and one that had never been claimed by the president.The government has collected billions in tariffs. “That process is likely to be a ‘mess,’” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a dissent to the majority opinion.More than 2,000 companies, including warehouse club Costco filed preemptive lawsuits seeking refunds if the tariffs were overturned. Those cases can now move forward.The libertarian think tank Cato Institute — which has been against the tariffs — says refund delays could cost taxpayers $700 million a month in interest charges. The organization said that the cost of a four month delay in issuing refunds could reach nearly $3 billion.“Quick refunds are the right thing to do, and exactly what the Trump admin promised. Incurring an extra $23M/day in interest is adding insult to injury,” a vice president at the institute, Scott Lincicome, said in an X post.

Appeals Court Blocks Trump Administration Effort To Delay Fight Over Tariff Refunds

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