FedCircuitBlog

Guest Post by Devin S. Sikes

For the international trade bar, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Federal Circuit) remains as important as ever because it so often has the final say on issues arising under U.S. international trade law. In 2020, the Federal Circuit issued thirty opinions in appeals from the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT).[1] The Federal Circuit deemed nineteen of those thirty opinions worthy of “precedential” status.[2] To be sure, each of those nineteen precedential opinions addressed important antidumping, countervailing duty, and customs questions. Even the Federal Circuit’s non-precedential opinion in American Institute for International Steel v. United States concerned a significant issue: whether Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Section 232), which President Trump invoked more often than any of his predecessors, unconstitutionally delegates legislative authority to the President. Nevertheless, the Federal Circuit’s en banc decision in Sunpreme Inc. v. United States stands head-and-shoulders above the rest in terms of its importance and potential impact.

This morning the Federal Circuit granted en banc rehearing in Sunpreme v. United States, a trade case. The en banc court simultaneously issued a new opinion in the case, vacating the panel’s decision and effectively reversing it in relevant part. We have the details.

This morning the Federal Circuit issued one order granting en banc rehearing in a trade case, two precedential opinions (one en banc opinion in the trade case and one panel opinion in a patent case), and two Rule 36 summary affirmances. Here is the text of the order, the introductions to the opinions, and a list of the Rule 36 judgments.