The Daily Fuckup

The Section 122 tariff fight is still alive, but the legal posture is not as simple as a total wipeout. On May 7, 2026, the Court of International Trade granted summary judgment and a permanent injunction to the successful importer plaintiffs in challenges to the Section 122 duties. The ruling did not hand every plaintiff the same result: several state claims were dismissed for lack of standing. The next day, the government filed its appeal. On May 12, the Federal Circuit entered an administrative stay, which paused enforcement while the case continues.

That sequence matters. The trade court’s ruling did not disappear when the appeal began, but it also did not instantly erase the tariffs for every importer. The injunction was limited to the plaintiffs who prevailed, and the Federal Circuit’s stay means the dispute is still being fought in court rather than settled in practice. For now, the duties remain in place under the stayed posture of the case, even as the government tries to overturn the May 7 judgment.

Section 122 was the legal hook the administration used to impose the duties, and the court’s ruling put that move under a bright spotlight. The decision was not a final appellate ruling, but it was a serious setback: the trial court found the tariffs unlawful as applied to the cases before it and ordered relief for the plaintiffs who proved their claims. That leaves the White House with a policy that is still being collected in some form while its legal basis is under challenge and its scope is constrained by the injunction.

The practical effect is uncertainty. Importers and manufacturers are still trying to price goods, plan shipments, and write contracts around a tariff regime that has been narrowed in court but not fully swept off the field. The government can point to the stay and say the fight is not over. What it cannot say is that the May 7 ruling left its Section 122 theory untouched. It did not. It left the administration with an appeal, a partial loss, and a tariff fight that now lives in both the courts and the balance sheets of companies that have to make decisions before the next order lands.