President Joe Biden's two nominees to fill vacancies at the Court of International Trade, Schagrin Associates' Joseph Laroski and the Commerce Department's Lisa Wang (see 2307120021), went before the Senate Judiciary Committee during a hearing on July 26. The two nominees faced questioning from the senators, including inquiries into their backgrounds and how their past experiences will shape their decision-making on the bench.

The White House on July 11 officially sent the Senate its two nominees to fill vacancies on the Court of International Trade. The Commerce Department's Lisa Wang and Schagrin Associates' Joseph Laroski were nominated to fill the seats left by Judges Leo Gordon and Timothy Stanceu, respectively.

The lack of disclosure in Enforce and Protect Act evasion proceedings and the deferential standard of review "stack the deck" in favor of the alleger, giving importers "a lot to complain about in the EAPA process," customs lawyer Larry Friedman of Barnes/Richardson said in a July 6 blog post. Even importers who believe they have conducted reasonable due diligence may have serious unexpected liabilities that come out during the investigation, he said.

The Court of International Trade announced it will be closed July 3. The closure is in addition to the closure on July 4 in observance of Independence Day.

A July 13 oral argument related to Judge Pauline Newman's fitness to continue serving on the bench will be closed to the public, a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit special committee ordered this week. In the June 20 order, the committee said that aside from an initial strong presumption of confidentiality in the proceeding, making the hearing public could jeopardize key information.

Judge Stephen Vaden at the Court of International Trade said that parties in his cases that use text drafted from a generative artificial intelligence program, such as ChatGPT and Google Bard, must disclose the programs used and the parts of the text drafted by AI. Parties also must submit a certification saying that the use of the AI program "has not resulted in the disclosure of any confidential or business proprietary information to any unauthorized party."

An Iranian car manufacturer is asking a federal court to order the Treasury Department to remove it from a U.S. sanctions list, saying Treasury has “no real intention of rescinding” its designation no matter what evidence it is shown. Bahman Group, which was first sanctioned in 2018, said Treasury continues to “manufacture a pretext” to maintain sanctions against the company despite being provided proof that it’s no longer engaging in sanctionable activities.

The Judicial Council of the Federal Circuit voted to exclude Judge Pauline Newman from being assigned new cases amid a probe into her fitness to continue serving as a judge on the influential patent and trade court. The council said that Newman's backlog of opinions and significant delays in issuing opinions when they do come out warrants precluding the 95-year-old judge from presiding over any more cases.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will sit in Atlanta for part of its October 2023 session, the court announced. Court panels will hear arguments in six different locations over three days. On Oct. 3, cases will be heard at the University of Georgia School of Law and Mercer University School of Law. On Oct. 4, sessions will be held at Emory University School of Law and Atlanta's John Marshall Law School, and on Oct. 5, they will be at Georgia State University College of Law and Richard B. Russell Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ordered Judge Pauline Newman to not publicly disclose the names of witnesses in the court's ongoing investigation on whether the judge is fit to continue serving on the bench. Releasing the order publicly along with all other court orders and letters in the probe, per Newman's request, the appellate court said that Newman and her counsel remain bound by the court's confidentiality order in the investigation regarding future orders and filings.