Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, battled Solicitor General D. John Sauer on Wednesday over the limits of executive power while hearing a case on the legality of Trump's sweeping tariffs. Sauer argued against lower court rulings that shot down Trump's use of emergency powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy sweeping tariffs on foreign countries a power solely granted to Congress in the Constitution.
Today, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in one of those rare cases that could reshape all three branches of government. The justices deciding Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, a challenge to the current tariff regime, could determine whether the imperial presidency is entrenched or arrested. They could either cajole Congress out of its dormancy or render it even more inert.
On November 5, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in a case testing the limits of presidential emergency powers. At issue is whether a president may use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from countries around the world. The stakes of this case reach far beyond trade policy. The Court's decision could shape whether the use of emergency powers to bypass Congress becomes a tool of routine governance, with profound implications for the constitutional separation of powers and limits on presidential authority.
Meet the superstar team who have to convince the Supreme Court that the word "tariffs" does not appear in the IEEPA, which for some reason is an uphill battle. [ National Law Journal] Ninth Circuit will convene en banc to reconsider giving Trump the power to send troops to assassinate costumed frogs. [ CNN] Freshly pardoned former Binance chief threatens to sue Elizabeth Warren for saying
These tariffs apply to nearly all articles imported into the United States (and, in the case of the Reciprocal Tariffs, apply to almost all countries), impose high rates which are ever-changing and exceed those set out in the [U.S. tariff system], and are not limited in duration.