Supreme Court Again Rejects Petition to Review Section 232 Action

The U.S. Supreme Court again turned down the chance to review President Donald Trump's expansion of Section 232 steel and aluminum duties beyond procedural time limits, denying a petition for writ of certiorari by steel nail maker Oman Fasteners (Oman Fasteners v. U.S., Sup. Ct. # 23-432).

After other companies failed to get the high court to take up a review of presidential Section 232 action on five previous occasions, Oman Fasteners took its chance, claiming that the case is an "ideal vehicle for reviewing" the constitutionally suspect "deference doctrine" shown to the president established under Maple Leaf Fish Co. v. U.S. (see 2312140039).

Oman Fasteners claimed that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit illegally granted the president a form of deference when it said it could strike the action down only if there were a "clear misconstruction of the governing statute" under Maple Leaf. In response, the government said this claim "misreads" the Federal Circuit's opinion. The president is not an agency subject to the Administrative Procedure Act, so his actions are not subject to judicial review under that statute, the government said (see 2311280030).