The decision came down today — February 20, 2026 — and it’s a big one. In Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the president did not have authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs. If your business paid IEEPA duties on imported goods, you may be entitled to a refund. But there’s a catch: the clock is already ticking.
The Short Version
The Court’s majority held that IEEPA’s authorization to “regulate importation” does not include the power to impose tariffs. The reasoning is straightforward in plain English: “regulate” and “tax” are not the same thing, and when Congress has historically wanted to delegate tariff authority to the executive branch, it has said so explicitly — using words like “duty,” “tariff,” and “surcharge,” with clear limits on amount and duration. IEEPA does none of that.
The practical result: tariffs imposed under IEEPA were unlawful. Importers who paid them have a legal basis to seek refunds.
What Nobody’s Talking About Yet: The Cash Flow Angle
The legal headlines will focus on the constitutional question. The question your CFO should be asking is simpler: how much did we pay, and how do we get it back?
This is exactly the kind of situation where understanding your logistics costs at a granular level matters. Importers who know their entry numbers, liquidation dates, and tariff classifications are going to move through this process significantly faster than those who don’t. If your freight records are scattered across carriers and forwarders, now is the time to consolidate them.
The refund pathway runs through U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Under 19 U.S.C. §1514, importers must file a protest within 180 days of each entry’s liquidation — the point at which CBP finalizes duties owed. Entries that liquidated more than 180 days ago without a protest on file are almost certainly not recoverable. That window is not flexible.
The Immediate Priority: Protect Your Claims
Before anything else, get a licensed customs broker or trade attorney to audit every entry that paid IEEPA duties. Identify which entries still have open protest windows. For entries where that window is closing, file protective protests now. The cost of filing is modest compared to the duties at stake.
While Washington figures out the logistics of processing what will likely be a significant volume of refund claims, the Court of International Trade — confirmed today as the exclusive venue for tariff challenges — may establish consolidated proceedings similar to what occurred during Section 301 China tariff litigation. That infrastructure takes time. Individual protest rights are what protect your claim in the interim.
CBP will likely issue guidance in the coming days. Watch for a CSMS bulletin or formal message from CBP on how protests against IEEPA duties will be handled. There’s a reasonable possibility CBP moves to grant protests automatically rather than requiring each importer to fight individually — but don’t count on it before you’ve filed.
One More Thing Worth Knowing
Today’s decision doesn’t eliminate tariff exposure across the board. The Court’s ruling applies specifically to IEEPA. Other tariff authorities — Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, Sections 122, 201, and 301 of the Trade Act, Section 338 of the Tariff Act — remain in effect. For importers dealing with steel, aluminum, or China-origin goods, those duty liabilities don’t go away because of today’s ruling.
If your supply chain spans multiple tariff regimes, the strategic question becomes: where is your exposure, and what’s the best structure to manage it going forward? That’s where the conversation between your supply chain manager and your CFO gets important.
Two Conversations Worth Having — and We Can Help With One of Them
Today’s ruling creates two distinct needs, and it’s worth being clear about which is which.
The first is legal: filing protests, auditing entries, navigating CBP. That’s the work of a licensed customs broker or trade attorney, and if you don’t have one, get one moving on this today.
The second is strategic: figuring out what your import structure should look like going forward. That’s where we come in.
If your goods move through U.S. ports — whether you’re managing chemicals, machinery, high-value cargo, or anything in between — the tariff landscape you built your supply chain around has shifted again. Questions worth thinking through right now:
- Are you routing shipments through the right ports for your timeline and cost structure?
- Is a bonded warehouse or FTZ strategy the right move given your duty exposure and cash flow position?
- What does your CFO need to understand about time-to-cash that your current logistics setup isn’t telling them?
These aren’t legal questions. They’re operational and financial ones — and they’re the conversation we have with clients every day.
Reach out directly. You’ll get a person, a cell number, and a straight answer.
This post reflects our understanding of the ruling as of February 20, 2026. Regulatory and legal interpretations evolve quickly. We strongly recommend consulting a licensed customs broker or trade attorney regarding your specific situation.