Appeals Court Refuses Trump's Bid to Delay the Supreme Court Tariff Ruling for 90 Days

On March 2, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit declined the Trump administration's request to hold the Supreme Court's tariff mandate for 90 days so that, in the government's words, the political branches could consider their options. The refusal cleared the U.S. Court of International Trade to begin fashioning relief immediately for the importers and small businesses that had challenged the levies. The Supreme Court had ruled 6-3 in February that most of the tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were unlawful. Lawyers for the plaintiff businesses argued that nothing about the refund question warranted a delay of the mandate, let alone three months.

The dispute is about how quickly a losing government must comply with a final judgment against it. A stay of the mandate would have preserved the practical effect of tariffs the Supreme Court had already invalidated, deferring the remedy while the collected money stayed with the Treasury.

The Federal Circuit denied the request, and the refund proceedings moved back to the Court of International Trade, where the government almost immediately raised operational objections to paying claims.