DOJ filed a notice of appeal one day after the Court of International Trade struck down Trump's Section 122 global tariffs in a 2-1 ruling, teeing up Federal Circuit review.
The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal at the U.S. Court of International Trade one day after a divided CIT panel ruled that President Trump's across-the-board 10 percent global tariffs were unlawful, signaling the administration's intent to press the case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [1]. The move came the day after the court issued its 2-1 ruling striking down the tariffs, which the administration imposed under the authority of Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 [1]. The prompt filing preserves the administration's appellate rights while the broader legal architecture of its trade program faces continued scrutiny.
The CIT's ruling, issued May 7, 2026, held that the Section 122 tariffs exceeded the statutory authority available to the executive branch [1]. Section 122 permits the president to impose temporary import surcharges to address balance-of-payments deficits, but the court's majority found that the administration's use of the provision to impose sweeping global tariffs did not satisfy the statute's requirements [1]. One judge dissented. The DOJ's notice of appeal, filed May 8, formally transfers the dispute to the Federal Circuit, which has jurisdiction over appeals from the CIT.
The Section 122 litigation takes on heightened significance because it arises in the wake of a prior, separate CIT ruling that struck down tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a decision the Supreme Court affirmed in February 2026 [1]. With IEEPA foreclosed as a legal basis, the administration's tariff program depends in part on alternative statutory authorities, making Section 122 the next contested front. A Federal Circuit ruling against the government on Section 122 would further narrow the executive branch's unilateral trade tools, while a reversal would restore at least a portion of the tariff structure the administration has pursued.
The Federal Circuit must now set a briefing schedule and determine whether to address any request for a stay pending appeal. If the administration seeks to reinstate the tariffs while litigation proceeds, it will need to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits and the potential for irreparable harm, standards the government may find difficult to meet given the CIT's analysis. The outcome will carry broad implications for importers, trading partners, and the scope of presidential authority over trade policy in the post-IEEPA legal landscape.