CARMAN, Judge:
Plaintiff brought five cases
Plaintiff Schaeffler Group USA, Inc. ("Schaeffler"), a U.S. producer of antifriction bearings, is the legal successor to two
Plaintiff brought a series of cases to challenge the government's refusal to provide it CDSOA distributions for fiscal years 2004 through 2009. (Compls. 15, Prayer for Relief.) Shortly after each of Schaeffler's cases was filed, the Court stayed the actions pending final resolution of other litigation raising the same or similar issues.
The Court exercises subject matter jurisdiction over this action pursuant to section 201 of the Customs Courts Act of 1980, 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i)(4), which grants the Court of International Trade exclusive jurisdiction of any civil action commenced against the United States that arises out of any law providing for administration and enforcement with respect to, inter alia, the matters referred to in § 1581(i)(2), which are "tariffs, duties, fees, or other taxes on the importation of merchandise for reasons other than the raising of revenue." The CDSOA, under which this action arises, is such a law. See Furniture Brands Int'l, Inc. v. United States, 35 CIT ___, ___ _ ___, 807 F.Supp.2d 1301, 1307-10.
The CDSOA amended the Tariff Act of 1930 to provide for an annual distribution (a "continuing dumping and subsidy offset") of duties assessed pursuant to an antidumping duty or countervailing duty order to affected domestic producers as reimbursements for qualifying expenditures.
The Court of Appeals, in SKF USA II, upheld the CDSOA against constitutional challenges brought on First Amendment and equal protection grounds. 556 F.3d at 1360 ("[T]he Byrd Amendment is within the constitutional power of Congress to enact, furthers the government's substantial interest in enforcing the trade laws, and is not overly broad. We hold that the Byrd Amendment is valid under the First Amendment."); id. ("Because it serves a substantial government interest, the Byrd Amendment is also clearly not violative of equal protection under the rational basis standard.").
Plaintiff challenges the constitutionality of Defendants' application of the CDSOA to Schaeffler on three grounds. In Count One, Plaintiff challenges the "in support of the petition" requirement of the CDSOA ("petition support requirement"), as applied, on First Amendment grounds. (Compl. 1 ¶¶ 41-43, Compl. 2 ¶¶ 41-43, Compl. 3 ¶¶ 44-46, Compl. 4 ¶¶ 41-43, Compl. 5 ¶¶ 41-43.) In Count Two, Plaintiff challenges the petition support requirement, as applied, on Fifth Amendment Equal Protection grounds. (Compl. 1 ¶¶ 44 47, Compl. 2. ¶¶ 44-47, Compl. 3 ¶¶ 47-50, Compl. 4 ¶¶ 44-47, Compl. 5 ¶¶ 44-47.) In Count Three, Plaintiff claims that the petition support requirement violates the Fifth Amendment Due Process guarantee, in basing Schaeffler's eligibility for disbursements on past conduct, i.e., support for a petition. (Compl. 1 ¶¶ 48-50, Compl. 2 ¶¶ 48-50, Compl. 3 ¶¶ 51-53, Compl. 4 ¶¶ 48-50, Compl. 5 ¶¶ 48-50.)
In ruling on motions to dismiss made under USCIT Rule 12(b)(5), we dismiss complaints that do not "contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to `state a
Plaintiff fails to plead facts allowing the Court to conclude that its as applied First Amendment and Equal Protection challenges to the CDSOA are distinguishable from claims brought, and rejected, in SKF USA II. The complaints contain no assertions that the CDSOA was applied to Schaeffler in a different manner than the statute was applied to other parties who did not support a petition. Plaintiff acknowledges that to qualify as an ADP, it "must have been a petitioner or supported a petition that led to an antidumping or countervailing duty order (which Schaeffler did not.)" (See, e.g., Compl. 1 ¶ 10.) The facts as pled place Schaeffler on the same footing as other potential claimants who did not support the petition, such as SKF. See SKF USA II, 556 F.3d at 1343 ("Since it was a domestic producer, SKF also responded to the ITC's questionnaire, but stated that it opposed the antidumping petition."). Consequently, because Plaintiff does not allege that there was anything unique about the way the CDSOA was applied to it, Plaintiff's as applied First Amendment and Equal Protection challenges in Counts One and Two are foreclosed by the holding in SKF USA II, and must be dismissed pursuant to USCIT Rule 12(b)(5) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
Plaintiff's argument that the recent Supreme Court cases Snyder v. Phelps, ___ U.S. ___, 131 S.Ct. 1207, 179 L.Ed.2d 172 (2011), and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, ___ U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 876, 175 L.Ed.2d 753 (2010) effectively overturn SKF USA II is wholly unpersuasive. While it is conceivable that intervening Supreme Court precedent could "effectively overrule" a previous circuit court decision, we are not convinced that such is the case here.
In Snyder, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment provided a valid defense to certain tort liability, because the defendant's speech, while "hurtful," was made in "a public place on a matter of public concern," and was therefore "entitled to `special protection' under the First Amendment." Snyder, 131 S.Ct. at 1218-20. We conclude that Snyder has no bearing on the constitutionality of the CDSOA. To conclude otherwise is to ignore the Supreme Court's disclaimer that
Snyder, 131 S.Ct. at 1220 (quoting Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 524, 533, 109 S.Ct. 2603, 105 L.Ed.2d 443 (1989)) (emphasis added). Plaintiff is incorrect in asserting that the Supreme Court intended in Snyder, "for the first time, [to identify] a discrete set of guiding principles to determine whether the speech at issue [in this
Citizens United is similarly inapplicable. In that case, the Supreme Court invalidated a law that imposed "an outright ban, backed by criminal sanctions" on corporate spending on "electioneering communication," which the Supreme Court regarded as a ban on political speech. Citizens United, 130 S.Ct. at 897 (stating that the prohibitions at issue were "classic examples of censorship."). While "it might be maintained that political speech simply cannot be banned or restricted as a categorical matter," the Supreme Court noted that at a minimum, "[l]aws that burden political speech are `subject to strict scrutiny,'" and evaluated the challenged law under that framework. Id. at 898 (quoting Federal Election Comm'n v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc., 551 U.S. 449, 464, 127 S.Ct. 2652, 168 L.Ed.2d 329 (2007)). The statute in Citizens United thus contrasts sharply with the CDSOA, which "does not prohibit particular speech." SKF USA II, 556 F.3d at 1350. This is a critical distinction. As SKF USA II noted, "[s]tatutes that are prohibitory in nature are rarely sustained, and
Therefore, the Court will dismiss Plaintiff's First Amendment and Equal Protection claims in Counts One and Two of its complaints for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
Count Three of each of Plaintiff's complaints claims that the CDSOA is impermissibly retroactive, in violation of the Due Process guarantee of the Fifth Amendment, in basing Schaeffler's eligibility for disbursements on past conduct, i.e., support for a petition. In New Hampshire Ball Bearing v. United States, 36 CIT ___, ___ _ ___, ___ F.Supp.2d ___, ___ _ ___, Slip Op. 12-2, at 8-14 (Jan. 3, 2012), we recently considered a claim essentially identical to Plaintiff's retroactivity claims. We concluded then that "the retroactive reach of the petition support requirement in the CDSOA is justified by a rational legislative purpose and therefore is not vulnerable to attack on constitutional due process grounds." 36 CIT at ___, ___ F.Supp.2d at ___, Slip Op. at 14. We reasoned that "it would not be arbitrary or irrational for Congress to conclude that the legislative purpose of rewarding domestic producers who supported antidumping petitions . . . would be `more fully effectuated' if the petition support requirement were applied both prospectively and retroactively." 36 CIT at ___, ___ F.Supp.2d at ___, Slip Op. at 13 (quoting Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. v. R.A. Gray & Co., 467 U.S. 717, 730-31, 104 S.Ct. 2709, 81 L.Ed.2d 601 (1984)). We conclude, therefore, that Congress did not violate Schaeffler's Fifth Amendment due process rights in basing potential eligibility for CDSOA disbursements on a decision on whether to support the petition that Schaeffler made prior to the enactment of the CDSOA. Based on this conclusion, we will dismiss the Due Process claims in Count Three of the complaints
For the foregoing reasons, all claims in the complaints in this consolidated action must be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.