News of the Day March 5, 2026
Trade Court Judge Rules Companies are Entitled to Refunds for Tariffs Struck Down by Supreme Court

Companies in the U.S. that paid tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court in February are legally entitled to refunds, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York said that U.S. importers were “entitled to benefit” from the high court’s February 20 decision that President Trump lacked the authority to impose sweeping tariffs last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

Eaton was ruling specifically on a case brought by Atmus Filtration, a Nashville, Tennessee, company that makes filters and other filtration products, claiming a right to a tariff refund.

A federal appeals court on Monday declined to delay implementation of the Supreme Court ruling striking down most of the Trump administration’s tariffs. That ruling clears the way for the Court of International Trade to begin the process of refunding tariffs to businesses.

Eaton also wrote in his decision that he alone “will hear cases pertaining to the refund of IEEPA” tariffs. The Supreme Court did not address the issue of refunds in its 6-3 decision last month.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Eaton’s ruling.

Trade lawyer Ryan Majerus, a partner at King & Spalding and a former U.S. trade official, said he expects the government to appeal or “seek a stay to buy more time for U.S. Customs to comply.”

The U.S. Customs agency must now develop a way to process the refunds. The agency routinely refunds tariffs in cases of error, but its system was “not designed for a mass refund,” said trade lawyer Alexis Early, a partner at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. “The devil will be in the details of the administrative process.”