CAFC Issues Notice of Noncompliance to DOJ in Section 232 'Derivatives' Challenge

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a notice of noncompliance Nov. 15 to counsel for the U.S. government in a case involving Section 232 duties. The notice said only one attorney may serve as principal counsel for each party. Two Department of Justice attorneys, Stephen Tosini and Kyle Beckrich, currently are listed in the docket as counsel for the U.S., with both marked to receive notice. Tosini is listed as the lead counsel and Beckrich as the counsel of record. The Federal Circuit said that "a party's failure to timely file a corrected document curing all defects identified on this notice may result in this document being stricken (PrimeSource Building Products, Inc. v. U.S., Fed. Cir. , #21-2066).

PrimeSource Building Products originally brought the case to the Court of International Trade, seeking to overturn the extension of Section 232 duties to steel and aluminum "derivatives." CIT ruled that the president violated statutory time limits when expanding the tariffs to the derivative products. The government appealed in June (see 2106170058). In a separate case, the Federal Circuit recently ruled that the president's decision to hike Section 232 tariffs on Turkish steel beyond these statutory time limits was permitted.