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.
“Universal, ‘one‑size‑fits‑all’ refunds were always legally vulnerable,” Jenette Prince, VP of trade control - imports and exports at Kuehne+Nagel, said in a LinkedIn post. “Importer‑specific relief remains the cleanest, strongest path. What we’re watching now is courts defining boundaries, not backtracking.”
The appeal comes more than a month after CBP launched its dedicated portal to process and deliver IEEPA tariff refunds. The system, Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, has delivered roughly $20.6 billion in refunds as of May 26 and is on track to issue $85 billion, per a court filing.
However, CAPE does not yet have the capability to provide refunds for finally liquidated entries despite the court’s order to do so. CBP has said it is developing the capability, with the Court of International Trade issuing a temporary stay on its universal order until the agency is able to process all entries.
The court’s patience is wearing thin, though, as it has ordered CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott to appear for a July 9 hearing to explain what progress has been made toward fully complying with the refund order.
The July 9 hearing has caused additional legal pushback from the Trump administration. Last week, the DOJ proposed sending another CBP official other than Scott to appear at the hearing, but the court denied the request. In response, the agency this week filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to delay or block Scott’s appearance.
In both its request before CIT and its subsequent appeal, the DOJ argues that ordering Scott to appear would harm the government’s ability to function and break with judicial precedent not to depose high-ranking officials except under exceptional circumstances.
“That’s not about avoiding oversight,” Prince said. “It’s about long‑standing separation‑of‑powers rules that say: Courts don’t compel testimony from agency heads when senior operational leaders can answer the questions.”
