The Supreme Court's recent February 20th decision invalidating IEEPA tariffs has necessarily set off a flurry of confusion and conjecture regarding the pathways and process for obtaining IEEPA tariff refunds. With over 2200+ lawsuits seeking refunds, and millions of entries processed weekly, all eyes are on when the Court, CBP, and the plaintiffs will agree on a refund process.
The opening salvo of that played out earlier today when the Court of International Trade (CIT) ordered CBP to liquidate import entries of merchandise without IEEPA tariffs. The order covers entries that are currently un-liquidated and those where liquidation has not yet become final for CBP to act upon (i.e. within 90-days of liquidation). The Order would apply to all importers, regardless of whether they have filed a lawsuit with the Court.
Judge Richard Eaton's decision states: "All importers of record whose entries were subject to IEEPA duties are entitled to the benefit of the Learning Resources decision."
The Court issued this order in response to a motion for an injunction to prevent CBP from liquidating any further entries until the Court established a refund process for litigants (Atmus Filtration, Inc. v. U.S. CIT No. 26-01259). The decision also comes one week after CBP had its first opportunity to begin liquidating import entries without the tariffs applied, but it failed to do so.
During the hearing on this matter, the government confirmed its current handling of refunds in light of the Learning Resources decision. The government indicated:
The agency received 71,647,732 entries with IEEPA tariffs during the period of February 2025 until February 2026;
The agency is currently liquidating imports with IEEPA tariffs; and
The agency has not begun liquidating IEEPA tariff refunds for imports.
Having reviewed these responses during the hearing, the judge stated that he intended to “steal the march from V.O.S.” (referring to a lead case in the consolidated group of cases in the CIT where a motion for hearing on the refunds is pending) and would determine how the refunds should proceed.
In response, the government clearly indicated: “It is not our position that every single entry and every importer will get a refund. Our position is that you have to file a claim in this court which is why over 2,000 companies have filed claims.”
On March 6, 2026, the court will hold a non-public conference with the parties to discuss CBP's issues regarding the refund process.
While the Court order is initially positive news, the government will likely ask the Court to reconsider the Order under specified rules or appeal this matter to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Therefore, the order is unlikely to take immediate effect because we expect the government to appeal and seek a stay of the CIT’s order.
The exchanges in this proceeding underscore that while CBP automatically liquidates millions of entries per week without intervention, liquidations requiring an increase or decrease in tariffs require personnel to generate that change. Manually processing a liquidation with a refund - for millions of entries - is clearly something the government did not plan on doing based on the responses here, and may not be possible in light of this Court order.
Given the government’s anticipated appeal and its statements in court seeking to limit relief to those who filed claims in court, we recommend importers file actions in the CIT as soon as possible.
We will continue to monitor these developments as they progress. If you have questions concerning how these developments may affect your imports or pending litigation we initiated on your behalf, please contact one of the trade professionals listed here.