Court Schedules Section 301 Oral Argument for Feb. 1 in NYC

The three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of International Trade presiding over the Section 301 litigation scheduled oral argument in the HMTX Industries-Jasco Products sample case for Feb. 1, 2022, at 10 a.m. in the court's Ceremonial Courtroom in New York, an order entered Nov. 12 in master case docket 21-cv-52 said. Chief Judge Mark Barnett had asked lawyers from both sides at a virtual status conference Nov.10 to email the court by Nov. 12 about schedule conflicts they had in January and February.

The panel's original preference was to schedule oral argument for Jan. 13, 2022, Barnett said. Its “strong desire” was to hold in-person oral argument with "limited in-person attendance," he said. The court “a little over a month ago” joined the federal judiciary’s “pilot” program to broadcast in-person proceedings on a dedicated YouTube channel, he said. “We’re working out the kinks" of the pilot, and court staff “are working hard to make sure that we’re going to be ready to go,” he said. “Anybody that wants to, without prior registration, will be able to listen in. I’m sure there will be lots of folks intending to do that.” It was Barnett’s strong preference to push oral argument into 2022, the chief judge said in response to a question from lead Akin Gump attorney Matthew Nicely about whether he had ruled out December. “I want to make sure that, frankly, we all have enough time to be as well-prepared as we can be and should be for the argument, to make it as productive as possible,” Barnett said.