{"id":141062,"date":"2025-11-05T12:17:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=141062"},"modified":"2025-11-05T18:51:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T23:51:18","slug":"wsj-trumps-tough-day-at-supreme-court-puts-tariffs-in-jeopardy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=141062","title":{"rendered":"(WSJ) Trump\u2019s Tough Day at Supreme Court Puts Tariffs in Jeopardy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Trump<\/a>\u2019s global tariffs ran headlong into a skeptical Supreme Court on Wednesday, with justices across the spectrum expressing doubt that a 1970s emergency-powers law could be read to provide the president unilateral authority to remake the international economy and collect billions of dollars in import taxes without explicit congressional approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even if the court strikes down the tariffs Trump initiated<\/a> on his self-declared Liberation Day last April, the justices gave little indication how they might unwind the president\u2019s signature economic policy and favorite diplomatic tool. That left unclear whether previously paid duties would be refunded or whether Congress could be invited to step in, perhaps by ratifying the levies retroactively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt seems to me like it could be a mess,\u201d Justice Amy Coney Barrett said during the later stages of an oral argument that ran nearly three hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solicitor General John Sauer took heat from all sides as he pressed the administration\u2019s argument: that the president\u2019s power to regulate foreign financial transactions when he declares an emergency includes the authority to impose tariffs. Tariffs were taxes, a majority of justices agreed, and many were dubious that Congress would so casually surrender to the executive its core constitutional power to raise revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Constitution is structured so that if I\u2019m going to be asked to pay for something as a citizen, that it\u2019s through a bill that is generated through Congress,\u201d said Justice Sonia Sotomayor. \u201cBut I\u2019m not going to be taxed unless both houses\u201d of Congress and the president \u201chave made that choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>

And that is a wrap on the SCOTUS arguments.

After that argument, if I were the Trump Administration, I'd be burning the midnight oil over the next couple of weeks drawing up tariff backup plans. A clear majority of the Justices appeared skeptical that IEEPA authorizes the type\u2026<\/p>— Peter Harrell (@petereharrell) November 5, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>