President Donald Trump holds up a map as he speaks during an event to announce sweeping global tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 2, 2025. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – More than 200 Democratic lawmakers and one Republican are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down President Donald Trump’s sweeping emergency global tariffs.
The 207 members of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate argued in an amicus meager Late Friday, the US announced that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to unilaterally impose tariffs. Lawmakers urged the justices to agree with a lower court’s finding that Trump’s sweeping import tariffs imposed under the IEEPA violated the Constitution, which gives Congress mandatory powers.
“IEEPA contains none of the hallmarks of legislation that delegates tariff authority to the executive branch, such as restrictions tied to specific products or countries, caps on the amount of tariff increases, procedural safeguards, public participation, cooperation with Congress, or time limits,” the lawmakers wrote.
“In the five decades since IEEPA was passed, no president of either party has ever invoked IEEPA to impose tariffs.”
Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Finance Committees, led the signatures of 36 members of the upper chamber. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, was the brief’s only Republican co-signer. A majority of House Democrats, 171 in total, also joined in.
Lawmakers submitted the court friend’s letter ahead of oral arguments scheduled next week before the Supreme Court on whether Trump’s emergency tariffs are legal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in delayed August confirmed a lower court ruling striking down the government’s IEEPA tariffs.
The Senate is expected to vote this week on three bills aimed at eliminating Trump’s import tariffs on products from Canada, Brazil and all other countries subject to emergency tariffs.
Fentanyl, trade deficits as emergencies
Trump began imposing tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico under the IEEPA in February and March, blaming those countries for illegal fentanyl smuggling into the United States
The President escalated In the following months, emergency tariffs were imposed on goods from around the world, declaring trade deficits a national emergency. A trade deficit means that the U.S. imports more goods from a country than that country buys from U.S. suppliers.
Domestic companies and buyers now pay the U.S. government tariffs of between 10% and 50% on most imported products. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, the government had imposed $195 billion in tariffs this year through the end of September monthly billing.
State corporations and companies have filed a lawsuit
Several private companies and a dozen states sued Trump over his employ of the emergency law to trigger the high import tariffs.
Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon were among the states that filed suit led by Democratic attorneys general.
Among the companies that have sued the Trump administration is lead plaintiff VOS Selections, a New York-based company that imports wine and spirits from 16 countries, according to its website.
Other plaintiffs include a Utah-based plastics manufacturer, a Virginia-based maker of children’s electricity learning kits, a Pennsylvania-based fishing equipment company and a Vermont-based women’s cycling clothing company.
The United States Court of International Trade governed Trump’s tariffs under the IEEPA became illegal in delayed May.
