A US Court of International Trade judge is sounding the alarm. The Department of Justice’s decision to appeal a universal tariff refund order could throw a wrench into the repayment of $166 billion in duties collected under tariffs the Supreme Court already struck down as unconstitutional.
The backstory: how $166 billion in tariffs got invalidated
In February 2026, the US Supreme Court ruled that tariffs imposed by the Trump administration under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were unconstitutional. Following that ruling, Judge Eaton ordered Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to begin processing universal refunds on approximately $166 billion in collected duties, meaning every affected importer would be eligible, not just the ones who had filed lawsuits.
Initial refund claims started being processed in May 2026. Approvals were expected to take somewhere in the range of 60 to 90 days.
The DOJ’s play: limit who gets paid
