Aaron Amundson, a former longtime official with the Bureau of Industry and Security, has joined Latham & Watkins' economic sanctions and export controls practice, the law firm announced Oct. 27. Amundson spent nearly two decades with BIS, including most recently as acting director of the Office of National Security Controls and director of the Information Technology Controls Division.
The U.K. added new FAQs 170 and 171 to address its most recent general license covering sanctions-related legal services (see 2510230018). The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation said the sanctions license "resets the fees and expense caps," which sit at just over $2.66 million, for covered legal services ranging from Oct. 29, 2025, until the license expires on April 28, 2026. OFSI also amended the license to cover "most UK autonomous sanctions regimes." In addition, it allows permitted payments to be made from abroad into U.K. or certain non-U.K. bank accounts, the agency said.
The U.K. released a new general sanctions license to cover certain legal services from Oct. 29 through April 28. Part A of the license establishes that the payment of legal fees and expenses must be only for legal services relating to the representation of a sanctioned party that was entered into prior to the date of the sanctioned party's designation. Legal fees under Part A can't exceed $2.66 million. Part B lays out the conditions for use of the license for legal services that aren't "based on a prior obligation."
Two law professors focusing on sanctions law filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court on Oct. 22 focusing on the history of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The professors, Fordham School of Law's Andrew Kent and University of Virginia School of Law's Paul Stephan, argued that IEEPA, which confers emergency powers for peacetime, doesn't let the president impose tariffs on imports and "stands in contrast" with the Trading With the Enemy Act, which "authorizes war powers" (Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, U.S. 25-250) (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, U.S. 24-1287).
Kenneth Nunnenkamp, former partner at Morgan Lewis, has joined Blank Rome as a partner in the international trade practice group, the firm announced. Nunnenkamp's practice centers on national security issues, including Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States reviews, export controls and sanctions. At Morgan Lewis, he led the firm's CFIUS working group.
In another amicus brief for V.O.S. Selections and Learning Resources, a number of legal scholars led by former Virginia governor George Allen opposed President Donald Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs, citing IEEPA’s history and the major questions and nondelegation doctrines (Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, U.S. 25-250) (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, U.S. 24-1287).
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated on Oct. 14 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin).
The 12 U.S. states challenging President Donald Trump's ability to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act filed their reply brief at the Supreme Court on Oct. 20, arguing that the text of IEEPA doesn't allow for any tariffs to be imposed and that Trump's reciprocal tariffs and tariffs to combat the flow of fentanyl don't meet the statute's other requirements (Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, U.S. 25-250) (Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump, U.S. 24-1287).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Oct. 17 rejected both the government’s and law firm Husch Blackwell’s motions for judgment in a Freedom of Information Act dispute involving the Entity List. It gave the Commerce Department time to provide adequate justifications for its decisions to withhold certain information but said the ones it already provided weren’t enough (Husch Blackwell v. Department of Commerce, D.D.C. # 24-2733.