Montana Farmers Union Seeks to Join Montana Case on Legality of Canada IEEPA Tariffs
The Montana Farmers Union moved to intervene in a case brought by four members of the Blackfeet Nation indigenous tribe challenging various trade action taken by President Donald Trump in the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. The agriculture trade group said it qualifies for intervention as a "matter of right," alternatively arguing that the court should permit the group to intervene even if it doesn't have the right to intervene (Susan Webber v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, D. Mont. # 4:25-00026).
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The Blackfeet Nation members sued earlier this month to challenge the tariffs imposed on Canada to address fentanyl flows issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the adjustment to these tariffs by the reciprocal IEEPA duties and Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs (see 2504100039). The complaint also argued that the tribal members are entitled to relief under the Jay Treaty, which permitted duty-free treatment of products imported by Native Americans.
The Montana Farmers Union said intervention is necessary, since its members are "similarly adversely affected by the tariffs," though they are not able to claim relief under the Jay Treaty. To establish intervention as of right in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the would-be intervenor must show its motion to intervene is timely, it has a "significantly protectable interest" relating to the subject of the case, the disposition of the case may impair or impede the intervenor's ability to protest that interest, and its interest is "inadequately represented" by the current parties.
The ag group said it clears all four standards, arguing that its "legally protected interest and the Plaintiffs’ interests are harmonious." The motion to intervene claimed that members of the farmers union are or will be harmed by the tariffs, since they make the prospect of exporting agricultural products to Canada difficult or impossible. For instance, Sarah Degn, a farmer and member of the Montana Farmers Union, doesn't have "sufficient reserves to overcome the sudden loss of the soybean, corn, and wheat international markets" caused by the tariffs, the ag group argued.
The would-be intervenor preemptively filed its complaint at the Montana court. The brief contests the same tariff action that's challenged by the Blackfeet Nation members, and argues that Trump acted beyond his statutory authority in imposing the tariffs. The complaint additionally alleged that Trump unconstitutionally deprived the trade group and its members by stripping them of procedural due process and that IEEPA is unconstitutionally vague.