US President Donald Trump's administration asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to urgently review its bid to preserve sweeping tariffs imposed under a 1977 emergency law, after a lower court struck down most of the levies central to the Republican president's economic and trade agenda, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The Justice Department appealed a 29 August ruling by a federal appeals court that the president overstepped his authority in invoking the law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, undercutting a major Trump priority in his second term.
The administration asked the court to fast-track its review by deciding whether to take up the case by 10 September and holding arguments in November.
The court's new term begins on Oct. 6.
"The stakes in this case could not be higher," Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in a written filing.
"The President and his cabinet officials have determined that the tariffs are promoting peace and unprecedented economic prosperity, and that the denial of tariff authority would expose our nation to trade retaliation without effective defenses and thrust America back to the brink of economic catastrophe," Sauer added.
Lawyers for small businesses challenging the tariffs are not opposing the government's request for a Supreme Court hearing. One of the attorneys, Jeffrey Schwab of Liberty Justice Centre, said in a statement they were confident they would prevail.
"These unlawful tariffs are inflicting serious harm on small businesses and jeopardizing their survival. We hope for a prompt resolution of this case for our clients," Schwab said.
The tariffs are part of a trade war launched by Trump since his return to the presidency in January, straining relations with trading partners, roiling financial markets, and fueling global economic uncertainty.
Trump has made tariffs a pillar of US foreign policy, leveraging them to exert political pressure and renegotiate trade deals and extract concessions from countries that export goods to the United States.
The litigation concerns Trump's use of IEEPA to impose what Trump calls "reciprocal" tariffs to address trade deficits in April, as well as separate tariffs announced in February as economic leverage on China, Canada and Mexico to curb the trafficking of fentanyl and illicit drugs into the US.
IEEPA grants the president power to deal with "an unusual and extraordinary threat" amid a national emergency and had historically been used for imposing sanctions on enemies or freezing their assets.
Before Trump, the law had never been used to impose tariffs.
The Department of Justice has argued that the law allows tariffs under emergency provisions that authorise a president to "regulate" imports or block them completely.
The appeals court ruling stems from two challenges, one brought by five small businesses that import goods, including a New York wine and spirits importer and a Pennsylvania-based sport fishing retailer.
The other was filed by 12 US states—Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Vermont— most of them governed by Democrats.
The Constitution grants Congress, not the president, the authority to impose taxes and tariffs, and any delegation of that authority must be both explicit and limited, according to the lawsuits.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC, agreed, ruling that the president's power to regulate imports under the law does not include the power to impose tariffs.
"It seems unlikely that Congress intended, in enacting IEEPA, to depart from its past practice and grant the President unlimited authority to impose tariffs," the appeals court said in its 7-4 decision.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a declaration filed with the Justice Department's appeal, urged the Supreme Court to move quickly, asserting that the appeals court's decision undermines Trump's ability to "conduct real-world diplomacy and his ability to protect the national security and economy of the United States."
The New York-based US Court of International Trade, which has jurisdiction over customs and trade disputes, previously ruled against Trump's tariff policies on 28 May.
Another court in Washington ruled that IEEPA does not authorise Trump's tariffs, and the government has appealed that decision as well.
At least eight lawsuits have challenged Trump's tariff policies, including one filed by the state of California.
The administration's appeal comes as a legal battle over the Federal Reserve's independence also appears headed for the Supreme Court, raising the prospect of a broad legal showdown over Trump's economic agenda in the months ahead.
Comments