Increased Customs Enforcement, More AD/CVD Cases Increasing Workload at Understaffed CIT, Judge Says
The Court of International Trade is dealing with an increased case load, in part because of the executive branch’s newfound emphasis on trade enforcement, CIT Judge Leo Gordon said at an event hosted by the Case Western Reserve University law school on Oct. 27. The trade court is “seeing an uptick in the number of civil penalty and enforcement cases that are being brought at the court,” which, combined with an ever-increasing number of antidumping and countervailing duty orders, is putting a strain on the court’s resources, Gordon said.
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“There is no doubt that the work of the court is increasing,” Gordon said. CIT has already issued 145 opinions this year, and is on track to issue the highest number of opinions in the last 10 years and third-highest number in the past 20. The increase “has had an impact on our ability to get to the dispositional work,” Gordon said. The issue is compounded by the court’s two vacancies, leaving it with seven judges instead of its usual complement of nine. With no nominees having yet been sent by the president to the Senate, it’s likely that the posts won’t be filled until at least the end of spring 2018, Gordon said.
More AD/CVD orders likely means challenges to their underlying investigations at CIT, as well as the bevy of challenges that can result from the Commerce Department’s annual administrative reviews. Meanwhile, the concurrent uptick in customs civil penalty cases is supported by “adjustments in personnel” at the Justice Department, Gordon said. The additional workload means it can sometimes be difficult for CIT to meet its target of deciding cases within 90 days, and at most a year, after a case is ready for a decision.
One effort to streamline the court’s work has not yet had its intended effect. With time nearly up on the court’s 18-month trial of “small claims” procedures in customs cases, the pilot still has yet to be used, Gordon said. “The court and the advisory committee are seriously looking at extending the program and finding ways to promote its usage going forward,” Gordon said. The pilot, which began in April 2016, allows a case to proceed under a draft set of rules that limit the burdensome discovery process in customs cases with small dollar amounts at stake (see 1604110034).