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SCOTUS on Presidential Tariffs
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), just this morning, delivered its Opinion on the president's authority to impose tariffs.
The Opinion was nuanced with Justices agreeing with the majority on parts of the case, while disagreeing on others. But bottom line:
SCOTUS opined that the president does not have the authority to impose tariffs under the IEEPA.
Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump
The lawsuit was prompted by the President's attempt to use authority granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act 1977 (IEEPA) to combat illegal drugs and "large and persistent" trade deficits.
In citing the law, the President must identify an "extraordinary threat originating outside the United States" and then declare a national emergency.
In doing these, the President is then authorized to do any of the following to address the threat:
"Investigate, block during the pendency of an investigation, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation of, or dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with respect to, or transactions involving, any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest."
When Learning Resources filed suit, they argued that the above do not authorize the President to impose tariffs.
The Executive countered that the authority to impose tariffs was included in the power to "regulate" "importation[s]".
But as SCOTUS wrote, "Those words cannot bear such weight":
Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution sets forth the powers of the Legislative Branch. The first Clause of that provision specifies that "The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises."
The power to impose tariffs is “very clear[ly] . . . a branch of the taxing power.” Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 201 (1824).
“A tariff,” after all, “is a tax levied on imported goods and services.” Congressional Research Service
(CRS), C. Casey, U. S. Tariff Policy: Overview 1 (2025).
They continue by saying that any mention of "tariffs" or "duties" is absent from the list of powers granted by IEEPA. Importantly, SCOTUS points out the problem of implication presented by this enumeration of powers:
It stands to reason that had Congress intended to convey the distinct and extraordinary power to impose tariffs, it would have done so expressly—as it consistently has in other tariff statutes.
In addition to the Constitution's vesting of the taxing power in the Congress, SCOTUS also remarked that no president has ever cited IEEPA "to impose any tariffs."
In their closing statement, the Court says that "IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs."
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