Nearly Half of Congress Urges Supreme Court To Strike Trump Tariffs

Lawmakers are rallying against President Donald Trump’s tariffs a week before the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments over the legality of the newly imposed duties.

A bipartisan group of 207 lawmakers last week submitted an amicus brief arguing that Trump does not have the authority to implement such sweeping tariffs under the the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law Trump has used to justify his policies.

“The Administration’s interpretation of IEEPA would effectively nullify the guardrails set forth in every statute in which Congress expressly granted the President limited tariff authority — a result Congress did not intend,” the lawmakers argue in their brief. 

They further argue that it is the Constitution that gives Congress the power to implement tariffs, not the president. Thirty-six senators appeared on the brief, along with 171 House Democrats. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) was the only Republican to sign off on the brief. 

The brief is the latest in a lawsuit initially filed by Rick Woldenberg, the CEO of Learning Resources, a Vernon Hills, Illinois-based educational toy company that expected 2025 would be its best year on record. Then Trump’s tariffs hit. Woldenberg, who expects sales to dip by 25 percent this year after the new, skyrocketing duties took effect, wants to recoup the tariffs he, along with thousands of other companies, have paid so far this year. 

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has previously acknowledged that collective tariff refunds could be as much as $1 trillion.

A lower court ruled in August that Trump’s tariffs are illegal, setting off a high-stakes showdown before the Supreme Court, which will settle the matter at the highest judicial level. An early October survey from JPMorgan shows that trade experts believe the odds could be as high as 80 percent that the Supreme Court will rule against Trump’s tariff policies.

“While the sitting three liberal justices are expected to oppose IEEPA tariffs, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Barrett–both with pro-business leanings — may also side against,” the survey said. 

The Senate is deliberating three different bills that seek to eliminate Trump’s tariffs in some capacity, though passage is unlikely on any front.

Meanwhile, Trump continued escalating his tariff rhetoric, most recently slapping Canada with an additional 10 percent tariff after a Canadian-backed television advertisement ran during a World Series game. The ad, paid for by Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, critiqued Trump’s tariff policies, using then-President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 remarks to extoll the benefits of free trade, decrying what happens when protectionist tariffs are imposed: “Then the worst happens: Markets shrink and collapse; businesses and industries shut down; and millions of people lose their jobs,” he said.