Trump’s own SCOTUS picks could wind up hurting him on tariffs
The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a case centered on President Donald Trump’s use of an emergency law to enact his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs, and even...
By Fox News · Fox News
The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments in a case centered on President Donald Trump ’s use of an emergency law to enact his sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs, and even Trump-appointed justices appeared skeptical of the administration’s arguments. Several questions from conservative justices, particularly Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, suggested uncertainty about allowing Trump to use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to enact his steep 10% tariffs on most imports. A ruling against the administration would deliver a major blow to Trump's signature economic policy. The IEEPA law gives the president broad economic powers in the event of a national emergency tied to foreign threats, and Trump declared the trade deficit such an emergency to impose tariffs via executive order earlier this year. But the law does not mention the word "tariffs" or "taxes" — a major sticking point in both this week’s oral arguments and the lower court’s earlier review of the case. Most of the justices’ questions focused on a single phrase in the law — the power to "regulate importation" during a national emergency — and whether that phrase grants Trump the authority he claims. Several justices seemed wary of a reading that could hand Congress’ Article I power over revenue and taxation to the executive branch. SUPREME COURT TO WEIGH TRUMP TARIFF POWERS IN BLOCKBUSTER CASE This included Trump’s appointees , who appeared to struggle with separation-of-powers issues that could vastly expand presidential authority — not only for Trump but for his successors as well. Barrett , in particular, pressed U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer on this, asking: "Can you point to any other place in the code or any other time in history where that phrase — together with ‘regulate importation’ — has been used to confer tariff-imposing authority?" Gorsuch later asked Sauer about his " theory of the Constitution " and "major questions doctrine," indicating concern about s…