Hundreds of businesses, from a Michigan auto parts store to a global shipping giant, have rushed to federal court to reclaim duties paid under President Trump's emergency tariffs after the Supreme Court voided the levies last Friday.
The administration has not objected to refunds for the original plaintiffs and has indicated it will not oppose refunds for other businesses.
But a clean, orderly process is nowhere close to settled, and Democratic governors are already using the moment to score political points.
The two names at the front of the line are VOS Selections, a New York sake and spirits importer represented by the nonprofit Liberty Justice Center, and AGS Company Automotive Solutions, a Muskegon, Mich., auto parts store whose docket became the consolidated lead case after other companies' lawsuits were folded into it, The Hill reports.
VOS Selections founder Victor Schwartz called the Supreme Court's ruling a "turning point" for thousands of small businesses. His company is owed a refund in the "low six figures," but Schwartz emphasized that the real damage was to cash flow.
"As you could understand, cash flow is the lifeblood of a company."
Liberty Justice Center, the public interest litigation firm handling the VOS Selections case, said Thursday in an email that most businesses do not need to take immediate action and that claims will remain viable even if litigation becomes necessary later. The firm's stated priority is preventing a chaotic free-for-all.
"Our goal is simple: No unnecessary expense. No unnecessary disruption. No 900-case pileup."
The firm said it is focused on securing a "uniform, court-supervised refund process" applied across the board, rather than forcing thousands of small businesses to file individual lawsuits.
AGS Company Automotive Solutions had been the effective lead docket for months as other cases consolidated under it. That changed on Dec. 23, when Mark Barnett, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade, halted new cases from being filed.
Now AGS is pushing to get things moving again. On Wednesday, the auto parts store asked for a hearing "as soon as practicable," with its lawyers saying they could proceed as early as the next day. The court did not oblige. In its filing, AGS told the court that "a delay in lifting the stay favors defendants and prejudices Plaintiffs further."
Meanwhile, VOS Selections is back at the intermediate appeals court seeking the return of its mandate, the formal document that ends the appeals process and returns jurisdiction to the lower court. VOS Selections' lawyers argued there is "no impediment" to issuing that mandate now, even though the government technically has 25 days to ask the Supreme Court for rehearing and the justices will not issue formal judgment for 32 days.
In the highest-profile corporate move so far, FedEx sued the Trump administration on Tuesday seeking a "full refund" of import taxes it paid since the emergency tariffs took effect. The shipping giant then pledged to return those funds to the shippers and consumers who originally bore the costs.
FedEx acknowledged in a statement Thursday that the timeline remains uncertain.
"When that will happen and the exact process for requesting and issuing refunds will depend in part on future guidance from the government and the court."
The Justice Department is not matching the plaintiffs' urgency. In an update filed Friday night, the government called the push for speed "ill-conceived" and asked the court to pause proceedings for 90 days so the political branches could consider their options.
"Complexity in the future counsels appropriately careful process, not breakneck speed."
That is a reasonable posture given the scale of what is at stake. The Supreme Court laid out no roadmap for refunds, and President Trump told reporters the process may take years to sort out in the courts. On Friday, the President posted on Truth Social: "Is a Rehearing or Readjudication of this case possible???" The Supreme Court has not reheard a plenary case in nearly 70 years, but the question signals the administration is exploring every available avenue.
While courts work through the actual mechanics, Democratic governors wasted no time turning the ruling into a press release.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote a letter to President Trump, shared publicly Friday, in which he claimed to have invoiced the administration for $8.6 billion, framing it as $1,700 per family in the state.
"This letter and the attached invoice stand as an official notice that compensation is owed to the people of Illinois, and if you do not comply we will pursue further action."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore made similar demands. California Gov. Gavin Newsom urged the President that it's "time to pay the piper." None of these governors identified any legal mechanism by which a state executive could collect tariff refunds on behalf of individual families, and no court has ordered anything resembling what they are demanding.
On the legislative side, Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire introduced a bill that would require prompt, full refunds of the emergency tariffs plus interest, bypassing the courts entirely. Some 19 other Democrats are co-sponsoring the legislation, which would force U.S. Customs and Border Protection to front the costs and pay interest within 180 days of enactment. Small businesses would be prioritized, and CBP would be directed to issue monthly status reports on refunds.
Markey said in a press release Monday:
"It's Main Street and working families that paid Trump's tariff taxes, and we must ensure they get their money back — not big corporations."
The bill faces long odds in a divided Congress, and the phrase "tariff taxes" itself is a rhetorical choice designed to blur the line between import duties and income taxation.
The procedural landscape remains crowded. The government has 25 days to petition the Supreme Court for rehearing. The justices will not formally issue their judgment for 32 days. AGS is pushing to lift the stay at the Court of International Trade. VOS Selections wants its appellate mandate issued immediately. And hundreds of other businesses are filing their own suits, raising the exact pileup scenario Liberty Justice Center warned about.
Investigators and the courts will need to determine how refunds are calculated, who qualifies, what documentation is required, and whether a single process can handle claims from small importers and multinational shippers alike. Authorities have not publicly confirmed any timeline or mechanism for distributing funds.
The businesses that paid these duties deserve to be made whole through an orderly process grounded in law. What they do not need is grandstanding governors mailing fake invoices or Senate Democrats trying to substitute legislation for adjudication. The Constitution gives courts the power to enforce their own judgments. It would be a good time to let them do exactly that.
