President Donald Trump's tariff fight has made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the arguments are already flying on both sides as the justices scrutinize whether he had the ability to impose the tariffs under his authority.
According to Fox News, Justice Amy Coney Barrett took the lead on determining whether or not Trump had the authority to impose global tariffs using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
She joined other justices, from both sides, in scrutinizing the ability for the president to use the emergency law to impose an aggressive tariff scheme on numerous countries since taking office.
Solicitor General John Sauer, during a nearly three-hour back-and-forth, argued in favor of Trump's ability to use the emergency law to impose the tariffs, pointing to language in the law that he believes allows it.
Justice Barrett pressed Sauer on his arguments, seemingly especially skeptical of the law's language regarding how Trump's lawyers interpreted it.
Fox News noted:
Solicitor General John Sauer repeatedly argued during the lengthy 2½-hour oral arguments that the emergency law Trump used to enact the tariffs for nearly every U.S. trading partner contained language about regulating imports, which Sauer said included using tariffs. The relevant statute permits the president to "regulate … nullify [and] void … importation," but it does not use the word "tariff." Barrett pressed Sauer on this point.
"Can you point to any other place in the code or any other time in history where that phrase together, ‘regulate importation,’ has been used to confer tariff-imposing authority?" Barrett asked Sauer.
Sauer apparently had a difficult time convincing Barrett.
Fox News added:
Sauer noted one other trade law that had served as a precursor to the emergency law in question, but Barrett appeared unconvinced, repeating her question as Sauer failed to offer direct responses.
As Sauer continued to try to prove his point, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal justice, demanded Sauer "just answer the justice's question."
Sotomayor wasn't done there. She challenged Sauer's argument and proclaimed that, contrary to Sauer's argument, tariffs are taxes.
"It's a congressional power, not a presidential power to tax," Sotomayor said. "And you want to say tariffs are not taxes. But that's exactly what they are. They're generating money from American citizens, revenue."
The two continued to go back and forth, offering a glimpse at how tough a fight Sauer and the Trump administration have ahead of them.
It'll be interesting to see how SCOTUS comes down on the issue, that's for sure.
