Ancient Coin Collectors Guild Seeks Supreme Court Review of CBP Import Restrictions Case

The Supreme Court should review an Ancient Coin Collectors Guild (ACCG) suit against CBP, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department in order to clarify the scope of judicial review of presidential action and agency decision making, said the ACCG in a Feb. 12 filing with the high court. The ACCG filed suit against the government to test import restrictions under the Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA). The lower courts "have effectively excused State and CBP from any scrutiny despite well-founded allegations" that they ignored the procedural constraints within the CPIA, said the filing.

The ACCG filed the original suit in the U.S. District Court of Maryland after CBP stopped the 2009 import of Cypriot and Chinese coins over violations of the CPIA. The district judge ruled against the ACCG, saying neither the State Department nor CBP had exceeded their authority. The ACCG then appealed, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to review the State Department's conclusions that China and Cyprus had requested import restrictions on coins, that the restricted articles were part of each country's cultural patrimony, and that the restrictions were necessary to protect the patrimony. The Appeals Court upheld the District Court's ruling.

Specifically, the Court should better explain the standard of review for Presidential subdelegations that are translated into an agency action, the filing said. It's unclear to what extent the standard of review falls under the Administrative Procedures Act and the appeals court declined to look closely at the State Department's procedural compliance with the CPIA due to concern for getting involved in the department's negotiations with foreign countries, said ACCG. Such negotiations shouldn't necessarily trump judicial review, said the filing. A Supreme Court decision would help the exchange of cultural goods by clarifying "whether the government complied with the stringent procedural and substantive constraints" of the CPIA, said the ACCG. The guild is acting on behalf "of untold numbers of collectors and small businesses" that have been impacted by the restrictions, the filing said.

(See ITT's Online Archives 12102420 for summary of the ACCG appeal.)

(Attorneys: Peter Karl Tompa, Bailey & Ehrenberg for plaintiff ACCG; Donald Verrilli for defendant U.S. Government)

Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the filing.