Trump tariffs face key test at Federal Circuit

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The Daily Docket

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

By Caitlin Tremblay

Good morning. The Federal Circuit will review President Trump's power to impose tariffs. Plus, a group of federal judges will take the rare step of speaking out publicly against threats they faced after issuing major rulings; the U.S. House budget threatens over 600 public defender jobs; and read our special report on how Trump's war on Big Law is leading firms to retreat from pro bono work for underdogs. Let's dive in.

Trump tariffs face key test at U.S. appeals court

REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Today the Federal Circuit will review President Trump's power to impose tariffs, after a lower court said Trump exceeded his authority when imposing sweeping levies on imported goods. Here's what to know:

The Federal Circuit in D.C. will hear arguments in two cases brought by five small U.S. businesses and 12 Democratic-led U.S. states.
The states and small businesses say that the tariffs are not permissible under emergency presidential powers that Trump invoked to justify them. (Read the state complaint here and the small business complaint here.)
On May 28, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade sided with the states and small businesses, finding that the U.S. Constitution gave Congress power to impose tariffs, and that Trump went too far by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law intended to address "unusual and extraordinary" threats during national emergencies. Read the decision here.
The Federal Circuit has since let the tariffs remain in place while litigation continues (read the order here), but has yet to rule on whether the levies are permissible under the emergency economic powers act. Read more here.
The Federal Circuit said the litigation raises issues of "exceptional importance," warranting the rare step of having the 11-member court hear the appeal, rather than assigning it to a three-judge panel first. That hearing is what's happening today. Read more about it here.

Coming up today

The 9th Circuit will hear arguments in an appeal by the Trump administration, which wants the court to lift a class-wide preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco in a case challenging the administration's cancellation of various grants to University of California researchers. Read the injunction.
U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston will hold a case management conference in a lawsuit by several leading medical organizations against U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services arguing that current policies on COVID-19 vaccines pose an imminent threat to public health. Read the complaint.
U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston will hear a bid by a group of 20 mostly Democrat-led U.S. states to block the Trump administration from terminating a multibillion-dollar grant program administered by FEMA that funds infrastructure upgrades to protect against natural disasters. Read the complaint.
A group of federal judges will take the rare step of speaking out publicly against threats they faced after issuing major rulings blocking parts of President Trump's agenda. The judges include U.S. District Judge John McConnell in Rhode Island, whose chambers saw a surge in violent threats after he blocked the administration from freezing federal funding, and U.S. District Judge John Coughenour in Seattle, who was "swatted" after declaring Trump's executive order curtailing birthright citizenship to be unconstitutional. Read our special report on the topic.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in D.C. will hold a motion hearing in a case brought by Planned Parenthood of Greater New York against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services arguing that a July 1 notice from the Trump administration imposes unlawful requirements for those seeking grants under the HHS Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. Read the complaint.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in D.C. will hold a pre-motion conference in a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington against the CFPB, the Department of Education, the Social Security Administration and the VA seeking records related to DOGE activities at the agencies. Read the complaint.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

More top news

Industry insight

Jones Day partner Eric Tung, who has been nominated by President Trump for a seat on the 9th Circuit and previously clerked for a pair of conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices, defended his past comments criticizing "radical feminists" for trying to "blur gender roles" and "undermine institutions like marriage." Read more about the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing here.
U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley said he was "offended" and "disappointed" by President Trump's social media posts targeting him for refusing to end a custom that allows Democratic senators to effectively veto new nominees to serve as judges and prosecutors in their states.
With exactly one year to go before law grads will begin taking a new version of the national bar exam, some law school faculty are calling to push back the launch in light of the technological meltdown that plagued California's revamped bar exam in February. Read more.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati sold its technology subsidiary SixFifty to an undisclosed human capital management company, without disclosing the financial terms of the deal. The law firm described the transaction as "among the largest involving a law firm technology asset." Read more.
Moves: Barnes & Thornburg added a five-lawyer real estate team led by partners Michael Henson and Daniel Noice, who join from Morris, Manning & Martin … Daniel Brownstone left Fenwick & West to join Mintz's IP practice … Womble added construction litigation partner Bob Hancock from Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr … Smith Gambrell hired corporate and global transport partner Matthew Field from Griffitts … Kaufman Dolowich recruited labor and employment partner Michael MacHarg from Adams and Reese.

600

That's how many positions federal public defenders would be forced to eliminate or defer panel attorney payments for over two months under a proposed Republican-backed budget plan in the U.S. House of Representatives, a top U.S. judiciary official warned in an internal memo. Read the memo.

"We are just handling the cases ourselves at this point."

—Texas Civil Rights Project Legal Director Dustin Rynders on how his nonprofit was unable to secure help from its usual law firm contacts to represent dozens of people arrested during President Trump's immigration crackdown. Major law firms are scaling back the free work they do for advocacy groups fighting the government in the wake of Trump's attacks on the profession. Interviews with over 60 lawyers and 30 nonprofits show legal aid groups now have fewer resources to defend the vulnerable. Read our special report.

In the courts

Twelve Democratic members of Congress sued the Trump administration, accusing immigration officials of blocking access to detention facilities housing noncitizens. Read the complaint.
Zillow was sued by real estate information provider CoStar Group, which accused the online real estate portal of publishing at least 46,979 copyrighted photos without permission. Read the complaint.

Attorney Analysis

Kobre & Kim's Alexandra Swette, Jonathan Cogan and Daisy Joo shed light on the legal risk the tech industry isn't talking about. Read today's Attorney Analysis.

Correction: Wednesday's Daily Docket incorrectly spelled Parker Rider-Longmaid's name in the Attorney Analysis section.

Additional writing by Shruthi Krishnamurthy.

Contact

Caitlin Tremblay

caitlin.tremblay@thomsonreuters.com

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