Trump's signature tariffs hang on key question about Congress' power before Supreme Court

By Fox News · Fox News

The Supreme Court is weighing whether to expand presidential power in a case over Donald Trump’s global tariffs, but key constitutional issues could doom the president’s argument. The high court raised separation of powers concerns during recent oral arguments about the absence of Congress’ role in Trump’s sweeping trade plan, which the president has said is critical to foreign policy and national security and a matter of "life or death" for the country. Justices across the ideological spectrum peppered Solicitor General John Sauer, the lawyer arguing on behalf of Trump, with questions about whether the president overstepped his authority. They framed their inquiries at times around two legal principles, known as the major questions and non-delegation doctrines, and scrutinized the text of the emergency law Trump invoked to enact the tariffs. Justice Clarence Thomas set the stage for the nearly three-hour arguments. In the first question of the day, Thomas, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, asked Sauer to "spend a few minutes on why exactly the major questions doctrine doesn't apply to the president in this case." BARRETT AND SOTOMAYOR TAG-TEAM TRUMP LAWYER ON TARIFF POWERS Under the principle, courts look to make sure the executive branch has not used a vaguely written law to carry out an act of major national significance, like worldwide tariffs. Sauer responded that the tariffs case, which involved foreign trade deals, was a "particularly poor fit" to apply the major questions doctrine because courts should give broader power to the president on foreign policy matters. Brent Skorup, a legal fellow at the CATO Institute, which has sided against Trump in the case, told Fox News Digital he has seen two trends emerge from the Supreme Court. One is a long-term trend where the high court is highly deferential to the president on overseas matters, but the other, he said, was a more recent use of the major questions doctrine. Courts have increasingly used the…