Here Come De Conservative Judges - 16

"Only we can do it".

We now have a federal court case that will continue to ask the question asked 16 years ago: "Will they be activists?". 

The Trump Executive Orders that imposed tariffs,  without any congressional act granting the right to do so, were all struck down in a "summary judgment" of a federal court:

"CONCLUSION

The court holds for the foregoing reasons that IEEPA does not authorize any of the Worldwide, Retaliatory, or Trafficking Tariff Orders. The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs. The Trafficking Tariffs fail because they do not deal with the threats set forth in those orders. This conclusion entitles Plaintiffs to judgment as a matter of law; as the court further finds no genuine dispute as to any material fact, summary judgment will enter against the United States. See USCIT R. 56. The challenged Tariff Orders will be vacated and their operation permanently enjoined."

(UNITED STATES COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE, emphasis added; cf video below). 

This will test the degenerative path on steroids which the US Supreme Court has been constructing for several years now (Here Come De Conservative Judges, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15).

Hold on to your hats (remember the Roe v Wade and Trump criminal immunity judicial earthquakes).

UPDATE: The decision was appealed to The Court of Appeals For the Federal Circuit.

That court has specialty jurisdiction different from, for instance, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and the numbered circuits (e.g. First Circuit thru Tenth Circuit):

"The Federal Circuit is unique among the thirteen Circuit Courts
of Appeals. It has nationwide jurisdiction in a variety of subject areas,
including international trade, government contracts, patents, trademarks,
certain money claims against the United States government, federal
personnel, veterans’ benefits, and public safety officers’ benefits claims.
Appeals to the court come from all federal district courts, the United
States Court of Federal Claims, the United States Court of International
Trade, and the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The
court also reviews certain administrative agency decisions, including
those from the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, the U.S. Patent
trial and Appeal Board, the Boards of Contract Appeals, the U.S. Merit
Systems Protection Board, the Congressional Office of Compliance, the
Government Accountability Office Personnel Appeals Board, and the U.S.
International Trade Commission."

(Federal Circuit, PDF). My concern is that they do not specialize in constitutional issues like the federal appeals courts in the 13 federal circuits do, so their quickie ruling against the judgment of the Court of International Trade is puzzling.

The judges in the federal circuit appeals court have technical backgrounds in their educational experience.

The majority of the judges were appointed by President George W. Bush, President Clinton, President Obama, and one by President Biden.

I will read the briefs when the parties file them:

UPDATE:

"WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court agreed Tuesday to let the government keep collecting President Donald Trump’s sweeping import taxes while challenges to his signature trade policy continue on appeal.

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit extends a similar ruling it made after another federal court struck down the tariffs May 28, saying Trump had overstepped his authority. Noting that the challenges to Trump’s tariffs raise “issues of exceptional importance,’' the appeals court said it would expedite the case and hear arguments July 31.

The case involves 10% tariffs the president imposed on almost every country in April and bigger ones he imposed and then suspended on countries with which the United States runs trade deficits. It also involves tariffs Trump plastered on imports from China, Canada and Mexico to pressure them to do more to stop the illegal flow of immigrants and synthetic opioids across the U.S. border.

In declaring the tariffs, Trump had invoked emergency powers under a 1977 law. But a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled he had exceeded his power.

The tariffs upended global trade, paralyzed businesses and spooked financial markets."

(AP News, 6/10/25).

The previous post in this series is here. 

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