The Supreme Court rules 6-3 that some of President Trump’s tariffs go beyond the scope of an emergency law. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh dissented. The majority, however, rejected Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a law that allows the president to “regulate importation.”
“The Framers gave that power to ‘Congress alone’—notwithstanding the obvious foreign affairs implications of tariffs,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the Court. “And whatever may be said of other powers that implicate foreign affairs, we would not expect Congress to relinquish its tariff power through vague language, or without careful limits.”
“We claim no special competence in matters of economics or foreign affairs,” Roberts added. “We claim only, as we must, the limited role assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution. Fulfilling that role, we hold that IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”
Kavanaugh wrote in a dissenting opinion, joined by Thomas and Alito, that the “President’s power under IEEPA to ‘regulate … importation’ encompasses tariffs.”
“As a matter of ordinary meaning, including dictionary definitions and historical usage, the broad power to ‘regulate . . . importation’ includes the traditional and common means to do so—in particular, quotas, embargoes, and tariffs,” he wrote, adding, “Importantly, IEEPA’s authorization for the President to impose tariffs did not grant the President any new substantive power. Since the Founding, numerous statutes have authorized—and still do authorize—the President to impose tariffs and other foreign import restrictions. IEEPA merely allows the President to impose tariffs somewhat more efficiently to deal with foreign threats during national emergencies.”
President Trump warned in November that if the Supreme Court were to make a “negative decision” on tariffs, the “unwind” event “would be, including investments made, to be made, and return of funds, in excess of 3 Trillion Dollars.”
