Supreme Court Holds IEEPA Does Not Authorize Tariffs - Refunds Are the Next Fight

The merits are now settled

Today, the Supreme Court held 6-3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. That resolves the central legal question that has hung over the IEEPA tariff program from the beginning.

The ruling is statutory. The Court did not announce that every presidential tariff is unconstitutional, and it did not disturb tariff authorities Congress actually enacted, including Sections 232, 301, and 122. It held that this statute - IEEPA - does not contain tariff authority.

What the decision did not do

The Court did not create a nationwide refund program. It did not direct Customs and Border Protection to write checks to every importer. And it did not decide which procedural route - protesting, litigation, or some other administrative process yet to be established - an importer must use to recover duties already paid.

That distinction matters. Winning the merits establishes that the duties were not lawfully owed. It does not eliminate the customs statutes governing liquidation, reliquidation, protests, and judicial review.

What importers should do now

Importers should immediately identify every entry on which IEEPA duties were paid, confirm the liquidation status of each entry, and calendar every applicable deadline. The most dangerous assumption is that the government will automatically find every affected importer and return every dollar without a filing.

We expect the Court of International Trade to become the center of the refund process. The procedural rules are likely to evolve quickly, and different groups of entries may require different treatment.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The Supreme Court victory is decisive, but it is not self-executing. Importers now need a refund strategy built around their own entry data and deadlines.