CIT Nominees Respond to Antidumping Litigation Concerns During Congressional Hearing
The high importance of dumping cases “has to be impressed upon” litigants to help resolve resulting lawsuits quickly, particularly in a time of crisis for the U.S. steel industry, said U.S. Court of International Trade nominee Gary Katzmann during a Jan. 27 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing (here). Minnesota Democrats Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar questioned Katzmann, as well as fellow CIT nominees Elizabeth Drake and Jennifer Groves, on how they would address steel dumping in the U.S., which Franken said in 2015 led to closures and inactivity at state iron ore plants.
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The nominees largely stopped short of going into specifics, focusing mainly on what they said was their strict role as judges—to resolve cases quickly and fairly. “If confirmed, I would, of course, work towards that goal of hearing cases fairly and expeditiously,” said Groves, currently CEO of Titanium Law Group. “And I believe that policymaking is in the hands of Congress and not in the courts, and it should stay that way.”
Franken and Klobuchar expressed frustration that antidumping cases often drag on for several years and become finalized only after workers lose jobs and after countries have started dumping other products, and noted that dumping has resulted in the layoffs of some 2,000 Minnesotans in 2015. Katzmann, currently an associate justice for the Massachusetts Appeals Court, deferred issues related to adjudication timelines and schedules to Commerce and the International Trade Commission, suggesting those agencies might be able to better address that policy question. “We are at potential risk of losing the entire steel industry in the U.S., and that’s not an over-dramatization of what’s going on,” Klobuchar said. “We should not be completely dependent on foreign steel for our own national security reasons. It has gotten to that point.” Katzmann agreed with Franken that Congress should appropriate the resources CIT needs to prosecute cases quickly so as to discourage future dumping.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, pressed Drake, currently a partner for Stewart and Stewart, about a 2005 piece which he said quoted her as saying: “The Central American Free Trade Agreement as a model of free trade is what has really worsened our trade deficit.” Drake downplayed the quote, saying it was a natural outgrowth of her former work representing U.S. labor interests, and noting that her policy views won’t apply to her work as a judge, which is “simply to apply existing law as passed by Congress to the facts of any particular case,” she said. Drake has generally represented the domestic industry side in antidumping and countervailing duty cases.
Wrapping up the hearing and drawing laughter from attendees, Grassley signaled that the nominations would be passed through to the full Senate for a confirmation vote. “Obviously, unless something really bad happens, you won’t be called back before the committee,” he said.