...
By Jenna Sundel
News Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
Senator Lisa Murkowski joined congressional Democrats on Friday in filing a brief with the Supreme Court challenging President Donald Trump’s authority to impose tariffs.
“When the President wishes to impose tariffs, he must comply with the existing, lawful delegations of tariff power that Congress has enacted or, if he finds those authorities insufficient, ask Congress for new authority. Here, however, the President has usurped Congress’s constitutional authority by impermissibly using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act,” attorneys for the members of Congress wrote.
...
Read More on News
Why It Matters
The court has agreed to hear two cases related to Trump’s ability to authorize tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). In one case, Learning Resources and hand2mind, two companies that make educational toys and products, argue that the tariffs will cost them $100 million this year.
The other challenge was brought by a group of five small businesses and 12 states.
IEEPA is a 1977 law that allows the president to “deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States, if the President declares a national emergency with respect to such threat.”
Trump cites the IEEPA in executive orders related to reciprocal tariffs, which he states he has the authority to implement.
What To Know
A group of 36 senators filed an amicus brief in the consolidated cases, urging the court to rule that IEEPA does not authorize the president to authorize tariffs.
The only Republican senator to join this brief was Murkowski of Alaska, who has argued for limiting the president’s power to impose tariffs without congressional approval.
“The uncertainties caused by tariffs have already impacted markets and capital investment, and soon they’ll hit families, grocery stores, and local businesses,” Murkowski said in a statement in April.
Additionally, 171 representatives have signed onto the brief.
The members of Congress argue that Trump is the only U.S. president to utilize the IEEPA statute to impose tariffs.
“Presidents have used IEEPA to block financial transactions with hostile actors, freeze assets, and to impose targeted sanctions ... Yet between 1977 and 2024, not once did a President use IEEPA to impose tariffs. The total absence of tariffs for nearly fifty years reinforces the conclusion that the statute does not authorize such measures,” attorneys for the members of Congress wrote.
The filing arrives ahead of oral arguments in the cases on November 5.
Attorneys for the Trump administration argued that the IEEPA grants the president the authority to enact trade measures in response to national emergencies.
“IEEPA addresses national emergencies (the most important of circumstances) and directly authorizes the President (the most important person in government) to take certain actions in response to those emergencies. IEEPA, on its face, is designed to address major questions, and thus it would make little sense to construe the statute to avoid addressing major questions,” attorneys representing the Trump administration wrote in a July brief.
The Senate previously overturned Trump’s Canada tariffs in April, backed by all Democrats and four Republicans: Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, Susan Collins and Murkowski. Later that month, Republicans narrowly blocked a resolution against the global tariffs.
What People Are Saying
Solicitor General D. John Sauer, Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate and attorneys Michael S. Raab, Brad Hinshelwood, Daniel Winik and Sophia Shams, in a brief: “Indeed, Presidents have long imposed tariffs and other trade restrictions under generally worded statutes and their inherent constitutional authority.”
Attorneys Jennifer Hillman, Peter Harrell, William Fred Norton, Nathan L. Walker, Josephine K. Petrick, Celine G. Purcell, Rebecca Kutlow and Emily Kirk, representing members of Congress in a brief: “The President’s actions are not consistent with the lawful power Congress granted in IEEPA in 1977 nor America’s constitutional structure. If the President believes that imposing, removing, or amending tariffs is an appropriate policy measure, Congress has given him tools to pursue those goals. But IEEPA is not one of them.”
What Happens Next
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the cases on November 5.
Do you have a story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines