Abstract
This Article examines the tension between the independence of judges in the CIT and the role of stare decisis in the CIT. After an overview of the applicability of the doctrine at the trial court level, the Article will set out two case studies in CIT decision making. The first example, relating to the standard to be applied by the Commission in preliminary antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, is a “worst case scenario” in which judicial inconsistency has caused a great deal of confusion for the Commission and its individual commissioners. The second example, which involves a series of cases relating to the proper role of economic or elasticity analysis in Commission injury determinations, shows how a cogent and consistent body of law has emerged on an issue when the judges of the CIT have taken into account prior decisions and have carefully built upon them in subsequent opinions. Finally, this Article addresses, in light of the two examples, what balance if any may be struck between judicial independence and the application of precedent in CIT review of antidumping and countervailing duty investigations.
Recommended Citation
Charles H. Nalls and Paul R. Bardos,
Stare Decisis and the U.S. Court of International Trade: Two Case Studies of a Perennial Issue,
14 Fordham Int'l L.J. 139
(1990).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj/vol14/iss1/8