- A federal appeals court temporarily halted a ruling invalidating President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
- The decision follows a lawsuit that challenges Trump’s use of emergency powers on trade policy.
- The administration says it may seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
A federal appeals court handed the Trump administration a temporary legal win on Thursday.
The court granted the administration’s request to temporarily halt a lower court’s ruling on May 28 that invalidated most of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s decision comes just one day after the US Court of International Trade struck down key components of Trump’s trade policy after five owner-run businesses brought a tariff lawsuit against the administration.
“The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,” the court ruled Wednesday.
In response, the Trump administration told the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that if it would not put the tariff ruling on pause, the administration would seek “emergency relief” from the Supreme Court as soon as Friday.
In a brief order, the appeals court said the trade court’s judgment is “temporarily stayed until further notice while this court considers the motions papers.”
Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel and Interim Director of Litigation at the Liberty Justice Center and a lawyer for the plaintiffs in this case, told Business Insider on Wednesday night that he hoped the Court of Appeals would be “similarly skeptical” of the administration’s use of emergency authorities on trade.
“I think the court understood that the administration’s argument that it had essentially unilateral authority to impose whatever tariffs it wanted on any country, at any rate, at any time under IEEPA went too far,” Schwab said after the initial ruling. “So we’re really happy that the court ruled the way it did, and I think we will make the same arguments before the Federal Circuit Court of appeals.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
This is a developing story, and it will be updated throughout the day.
