The majority concluded that the tariffs in question are not authorized by the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA), and that the major questions doctrine precludes interpreting IEEPA to give the president the virtually unlimited tariff authority he claims.
…..
The majority did not address whether the government’s claim of unlimited tariff authority would also run afoul of the nondelegation doctrine, which limits the extent to which Congress can delegate legislative authority to the executive. But it does note the significance of the fact that tariffs are a “core congressional power.”
The majority explicitly chose not resolve the issue of whether IEEPA can be used to impose any tariffs at all. But their reasoning suggests either that such imposition is indeed categorically barred, or that any tariff authority that exists under IEEPA is strictly limited.
The concurring opinion, written by Judge Cunningham, on behalf of four judges goes further than the majority. It concludes that IEEPA does not authorize any tariffs at all. It also indicates that the sort of sweeping delegation of tariff authority claimed by the president here is precluded by the nondelegation doctrine, which limits the extent to which Congress can delegate legislative power to the president, relying in part on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in FCC v. Consumers’ Research (which was helpful to our case in a number of ways).
National Review‘s Dan McLaughlin believes that the court got it right in yesterday’s ruling against Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs punitive taxes on Americans’ purchases of imports and import-competing products. Here’s his conclusion:
The dissent is a grab bag of justifications that will deserve more extended discussion another day, but it is grasping at straws to justify an open-ended “national emergency” power of the sort that should be disfavored in our laws unless it is granted in terms far more explicit than these.
What do you know? When government increases the price of labor, employers use less of it. Teen unemployment rates in Colorado (16.4%), Washington state (14.8%) and Illinois (14.2%) were also among the highest in the country. So are their minimum wages: Washington ($16.66 an hour), Illinois ($15), and Colorado ($14.81).
Florida has been adding jobs faster than most states, but its teen unemployment rate (12.1%) last year was roughly the national average. Voters in Florida enacted a referendum in 2020 that raised the state’s minimum to $13 an hour this year from $8.56. It is set to increase to $15 in 2026.
The Cato Institute’s Tad DeHaven understandably is no fan of sovereign wealth funds. A slice:
Donald Trump’s autocratic instincts returned to the White House in January, but this time, no adults would be in the room to dissuade him from going full bore. On economic policy, an amped up tariffing agenda came as no surprise, even if the rationales and execution have been stupefying. However, it’s doubtful anyone foresaw prominent American corporations getting partially nationalized within the first six months.
In hindsight, a seed for it was planted in February when Trump signed an executive order instructing his administration to plan the establishment of a US Sovereign Wealth Fund (a bad idea), which could facilitate government ownership stakes in private companies. The order instructed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to submit the plan to the president within 90 days, including recommendations for funding mechanisms, investment strategies, fund structure, and a governance model.
