The Supreme Court's key ruling that called into question federal agencies' authority to regulate major sectors of the economy if not explicitly delegated by Congress could positively impact plaintiffs in the massive case against the Section 301 China tariffs, Christopher Kane, partner at Simon Gluck, said in a LinkedIn post. Kane said he thought that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative overstepped its statutorily delegated authority by not engaging in the mandated deliberations before imposing the tariffs. Since the tariffs rise to the level of affecting a major segment of the U.S. economy, the West Virginia v. EPA decision would reverse the USTR's actions, Kane said.
Major Questions Doctrine
The Supreme Court's landmark ruling June 30 that curbed the Environmental Protection Agency's power to issue regulations intended to counter climate change is unlikely to have ramifications for trade cases at the Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, but there is a chance some trade actions with a larger scope could be affected, trade lawyers said in recent days.
Five Republican Senators filed an amicus brief on Dec. 15 with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging it to take up a case over the limits of the president's authority under the Section 232 national security tariff statute. The brief, signed by Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.; Mike Crapo, R-Idaho; Bill Cassidy, R-La.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., argues against a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit opinion spurning time limits imposed in the statute. The time limits are crucial to ensuring that "Congress makes the major policy decisions regarding the regulation of foreign commerce," the lawmakers said.