Trump's tariffs could be undone by one conservative doctrine: 'Life or death'
The Supreme Court is poised to rule soon on President Donald Trump’s use of an emergency wartime law to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on most U.S. countries — and which...
By Fox News · Fox News
The Supreme Court is poised to rule soon on President Donald Trump’s use of an emergency wartime law to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on most U.S. countries — and which brought to the fore key questions over the "major questions doctrine," or the limiting principle by which courts can, in certain circumstances, move to curb the power of executive agencies. During oral arguments over Trump's tariffs in November, justices honed in on the so-called major questions doctrine — which allows courts to limit the power of executive agencies on actions with "vast economic and political significance" — and how it squares with Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to enact his sweeping global and reciprocal tariffs. Plaintiffs told the court that Trump’s use of IEEPA to unilaterally impose his steep import duties violates the major questions doctrine, since IEEPA does not explicitly mention the word "tariffs." Rather, it authorizes the president to "regulate … importation" during a declared national emergency — plaintiffs noted, arguing that it falls short of the standard needed to pass muster for MQD. "Congress does not (and could not) use such vague terminology to grant the executive virtually unconstrained taxing power of such staggering economic effect — literally trillions of dollars — shouldered by American businesses and consumers," they told the court in an earlier briefing. TRUMP TARIFF PLAN FACES UNCERTAIN FUTURE AS COURT BATTLES INTENSIFY Lawyers for the Trump administration countered that text of the IEEPA emergency law is the "practical equivalent" of a tariff. While U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer acknowledged to the justices that IEEPA does not explicitly give an executive the power to regulate tariffs, he stressed in November that the power to tariff is "the natural common sense inference" of IEEPA. But whether the high court will back his argument remains to be seen. That was the conclusion reached by the U.S. Court of Inte…