Trump’s Tariffs Ruled Illegal but Remain in Place as Trump Appeals to the Supreme Court

Although the U.S Court of Appeals ruled on August 29 that President Donald Trump had no legal right to impose sweeping tariffs on the majority of countries, the President said on Wednesday that he asked the Supreme Court to expeditiously accept and rule on an appeal seeking to overturn lower court decisions. While the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that Trump overstepped his authority under an emergency powers law, they upheld his tariffs.

Associated Press reports, “It seems unlikely that Congress intended to … grant the President unlimited authority to impose tariffs,” the judges wrote in a 7-4 ruling. The AP also said that they did not strike down the tariffs because they wanted to allow the Trump administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Representation for plaintiffs who successfully sued to block the tariffs, Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, says in a statement, “The government has now asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review this case. Both federal courts that considered the issue agreed that IEEPA does not give the President unchecked tariff authority,” via NBC News.

The ruling is centered around two sets of import taxes, which Trump is defending by implementing via declaring a national emergency under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), according to the AP. His administration feels he is justified because the courts approved President Richard Nixon’s emergency use of tariffs in a 1971 economic crisis that occurred because of President Nixon’s decision to end a policy linking the U.S. dollar to the price of gold.

NBC News reported that the President’s goal for the Supreme Court is to hear arguments on his appeal in early November and issue a final decision on the legality of the disputed tariffs soon afterward, via NBC News acquiring filings.

October 14 is the next date to watch as the appeals court paused its ruling from taking effect to give Trump time to ask the Supreme Court to hear his appeal, to potentially issue an indefinite stay of the decision until the appeal is resolved.

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