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The Justice Department has formally appealed the court ruling ordering the federal government to universally issue refunds for now-defunct tariffs, adding increased legal uncertainty for the already in-progress return process.
On Tuesday, the agency filed a notice of appeal in the U.S. Court of International Trade in regards to the court’s ruling from earlier this year that directed Customs and Border Protection to return funds paid for tariffs enacted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The ruling resulted from a Supreme Court decision invalidating the levies.
The trade court’s initial order only covered unprocessed or unfinalized entries, but the court later expanded the scope of the directive to include finally liquidated entries as well. The DOJ has previously signaled its opposition to a segment of the latter group, stating the court lacks jurisdiction to issue a universal order for all finalized entries, but only for those for which affected parties have filed lawsuits.
"For that reason, defendants intend to appeal the Court’s universal injunction and to seek a stay of the injunction except as to the particular importer plaintiffs in each case in which the Court has entered the injunction,” the agency said in a court filing last week.
