The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia held oral argument on Jan. 25 in Judge Pauline Newman's suit against three of her colleagues' fitness investigation on the 96-year-old judge. In a Jan. 30 brief filed after the oral argument, the three U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit judges -- Kimberly Moore, Richard Taranto and Sharon Prost -- clarified that they didn't intend to suggest that the appellate court's Judicial Council would need to take action for Newman's suspension to lapse. Instead, the judges meant to confirm that the council would need to "take some action" for the "suspension to continue beyond the one-year period" (The Hon. Pauline Newman v. The Hon. Kimberly Moore, D.D.C. # 23-01334).
Turkey will appeal a World Trade Organization dispute panel finding against its retaliatory duties on certain U.S. goods, the WTO announced Jan. 31. Because the Appellate Body is nonfunctional as the U.S. prevents vacancies from being filled, the appeal goes "into the void." As a result, Turkey's tariffs may stand without further rebuke from the WTO.
The U.S. said in a Jan. 25 stipulation that it won't oppose an argument from Auxin Solar and Concept Clean Energy that the Court of International Trade has the power to tell the U.S. to reliquidate certain entries in a suit challenging the Commerce Department's pause on antidumping and countervailing duties covering solar cells from four Southeast Asian countries. The U.S. stipulation covers entries that were unliquidated as of the date of an order from CIT that accepts DOJ's stipulation but that subsequently liquidate before the case is resolved (Auxin Solar v. United States, CIT # 23-00274).
The U.S. and antidumping petitioner Wind Tower Trade Coalition failed to show that the Commerce Department followed its standard "cost-smoothing" practice when it rejected respondent Marmen Energy's "product-specific plate costs as unreasonable," Marmen said in a Jan. 30 reply brief at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Marmen v. United States, Fed. Cir. # 23-1877).
The Senate on Feb. 1 voted 53-42 to confirm Lisa Wang to serve as a judge on the Court of International Trade.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Jan. 26 declined to dismiss a False Claims Act suit from a whistleblower that alleges her employer misclassified footwear to avoid tariffs. Magistrate Judge Robert Lehrburger said the fact none of the defendants served as the importer of record for the allegedly undervalued footwear imports is irrelevant for purposes of establishing liability under the FCA (United States ex rel. Devin Taylor v. GMI USA Corp., S.D.N.Y. # 16-7216).
Chinese printer cartridge exporter Ninetsar Corp. filed its motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade on Jan. 22 against its placement on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List. Made public Jan. 31, the brief emphasizes arguments already made in support of its motion for a preliminary injunction (see 2312180057) (Ninestar Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00182).
Crowell & Moring moved its New York office to Two Manhattan West at 375 9th Ave., including the firm's international trade practice, the firm announced. The firm also noted the change in a notice to the Court of International Trade.
The following trade-related lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
Importer MCM Technologies on Jan. 30 dismissed its suit challenging CBP's denial of its protest regarding the classification of its pet identification tags. The importer said the tags, which are classified under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 8302.49.4000, qualify for an exclusion from Section 301 tariffs under secondary subheading 9903.88.4800. Counsel for MCM Technologies declined to comment (MCM Technologies v. U.S., CIT # 22-00005).