(The Center Square) – Conservative, free market think tanks in North Carolina and Arizona in a brief filed at the U.S. Supreme Court are questioning tariffs justification under emergency authority utilized by second-term Republican President Donald Trump.
Oral arguments in the consolidated cases of Learning Resources v. Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump v. V.O.S. Selections are scheduled Nov. 5. Specifically, the Goldwater Institute headquartered in Phoenix and the John Locke Foundation headquartered in Raleigh question if a national emergency exists sufficient to implement the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Delegation of legislative power to the White House is also questioned.
Learning Resources is an educational toy manufacturer with hand2mind, with most products coming from Asia. The lawsuit was filed in April, saying tariffs threaten to significantly increase import costs.
V.O.S. Selections is a wine and spirits importer. In May, the Court of International Trade ruled the Trump administration tariffs illegal and blocked enforcement with a permanent injunction. The administration appealed and an appellate court in August upheld the decision.
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act was passed in 1977. Following declaration of a national emergency, the president has some broad authority through this law on international economic transactions.
The friend of the court brief from Goldswater and Locke says in part, “the president has no power to declare an emergency when there is none in reality.” It says one does not exist.
And, even if the bench led by Chief Justice John Roberts were to say trade deficits and drug smuggling are a national emergency, the brief questions the International Emergency Economic Powers Act delegating authority to the president to impose taxes.
For context, the authority to tax in the Constitution is within Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1.
The nonprofit Goldwater Institute bills itself as “a free-market public policy research and litigation organization dedicated to advancing the principles of limited government, economic freedom, and individual liberty, with a focus on education, free speech, health care, equal protection, property rights, occupational licensing, and constitutional limits.”
The nonprofit John Locke Foundation bills its vision as “a North Carolina in which liberty and limited, constitutional government are the cornerstones of society so that individuals, families, and institutions can freely shape their own destinies.”
