The U.S. Court of International Trade has rejected an association lawsuit seeking to overturn President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on aluminum and steel imports, Politico reported Monday.

The American Institute for International Steel and two U.S. businesses sued the administration last year, arguing the law Trump used to impose the tariffs violated the constitutional prohibition against transfer of powers between Congress and the executive branch. The three judges of the court sided against AIIS, pointing to a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case—Algonquin SNG Inc. v. Federal Energy Administration—they said had already determined the constitutionality of the law in question.

However, one of the judges wrote a separate opinion in which he agreed with the overall ruling but questioned whether the Supreme Court decision was a good metric to use in the case. AIIS latched onto that dissent in a statement responding to the decision.

"(W)e remain convinced that, as one of the judges wrote today in a separate opinion, ‘it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the statute has permitted the transfer of power to the President in violation of the separation of powers.' We are appealing immediately in order to continue making that argument," AIIS said.

AIIS represents companies that rely on imported steel. The American Iron and Steel Institute, which represents U.S.-based steel manufacturers that support the tariffs, said the ruling reaffirms its belief the lawsuit "was and is without merit."

"This lawsuit was theater by the importers, designed to divert from the real issue which is that unfairly traded foreign imports had a disastrous impact on the steel industry, creating a real threat to our national and economic security," AISI CEO Thomas Gibson said. https://politi.co/2JDULpT

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