Trump-Aligned Legal Group Defends Motion to Transfer California IEEPA Suit to CIT
The Trump-aligned America First Legal Foundation appeared as an amicus in a second case filed in a U.S. district court challenging the imposition of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to defend the government's bid to transfer the cases to the Court of International Trade. In both cases, the foundation said it's providing the court with "another basis for transfer" to CIT (State of California v. Donald J. Trump, N.D. Cal. # 3:25-03372).
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The legal advocacy group first filed a brief backing the government's transfer motion in a case in Florida, which is challenging President Donald Trump's use of IEEPA to impose tariffs on China (see 2504160047). The group then appeared in the State of California's lawsuit against Trump's reciprocal tariffs to file a nearly identical brief supporting the transfer motion.
In both cases, the foundation argued that while the plaintiffs may claim that prior civil suits arising out of IEEPA weren't exclusively brought in the trade court, "it appears none of these cases addressed how" Section 1581(i), the trade court's "residual" jurisdiction, applies to IEEPA. This means there's not even a "drive-by jurisdictional ruling" on the issue, the brief said.
The foundation added that Section 1581(i) was added in 1980 to expand CIT's jurisdiction "beyond that of the earlier Customs Court." The brief said the trade court's work is "important, but its jurisdictional scope is hardly well known, and it should not be surprising that some parties in IEEPA cases have either not recognized how § 1581(i) applies to IEEPA, or have chosen not to press the matter."
Bringing the IEEPA suits to CIT "makes perfect sense: it ensures a single trial-level court hears challenges to civil suits arising out of statutes related to certain trade actions that are national -- really, international -- in effect," the brief said. The Supreme Court itself said Congress enacted Section 1581 to "remedy the confusion over the division of jurisdiction" between the Customs Court and the district courts to ensure "uniformity in the judicial decision-making process," the brief said.