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Dec. 13, 2013 – NAFCU and other amici filed a request with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday to participate in the oral arguments Jan. 17 in the debit card interchange case.

The amici parties requested to participate "in light of the direct stake that amici's members have in this litigation." They asked for 15 minutes of argument time.

The oral arguments are the next step in the Federal Reserve Board's appeal of district court Judge Richard Leon's ruling that the Fed's debit interchange rule did not conform with requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act. Judge Leon issued his ruling in July, but the Fed filed for an appeal and sought a stay while that appeal proceeds; Leon granted that stay.

Leon, in his July ruling, sided with merchants in declaring the Fed's debit interchange fee cap was too high and that its network non-exclusivity provisions were contrary to the intent of Congress. NAFCU, which holds the current fee cap to be too low, filed with other amici in support of the Fed's appeal.