Trump Reciprocal Tariff Case Heads to Supreme Court

Rick Woldenberg believes his Chicago area educational toy businesses have been hit especially hard by Trump’s fluctuating global tariffs. Woldenberg’s companies sued in April to invalidate several tariffs as exceeding Trump’s authority, and now the suit will be heard before the Supreme Court. In arguments Wednesday, the court will consider striking down most of the tariffs Trump has imposed since taking office, potentially affecting trillions of dollars in trade. A ruling against Trump could mean refunds exceeding $100 billion, and small and mid-sized companies will be able to claim credit. A tariff ruling favoring Trump could set a far-reaching precedent letting presidents take unilateral actions in the name of addressing an emergency. Bloomberg's Greg Stohr joined Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec on 'Bloomberg Businessweek Daily' to break it down.

President Donald Trump’s three US Supreme Court appointees will play pivotal roles as the court considers the fate of his signature global tariffs Wednesday.

Each of the three — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — has generally backed the president in a blizzard of emergency orders this year letting Trump implement his policies temporarily.

But the tariff case will be the first time the court and its 6-3 Republican-appointed majority have directly considered Trump’s underlying assertions of sweeping presidential power. And to varying degrees, the Trump appointees have hinted that they aren’t sure bets to back him as he seeks unprecedented authority to levy tariffs in the name of addressing national emergencies.

“I don’t think it’s inevitable that this is going to be a sort of partisan alignment, or the sort of standard 6-3 alignment that we’ve seen in some other cases,” said Roman Martinez, an appellate lawyer at Latham & Watkins who helped file a brief for the US Chamber of Commerce opposing the tariffs.

The case will decide the fate of most of the import taxes Trump has imposed since taking office, including his April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs.

Trump says the tariffs are authorized by the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives the president a panoply of tools to address national security, foreign policy and economic emergencies – but doesn’t explicitly authorize tariffs. Administration lawyers say the national trade deficit and fentanyl crisis constitute emergencies that let the president invoke the law and impose tariffs on trillions of dollars of trade.

Here’s a look at how each Trump appointee might approach the case, along with another key figure, Chief Justice John Roberts. The companies and states challenging the levies will probably need the votes of two of the four to win the case.

The court’s three liberals Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson — are likely to vote against Trump. Conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito usually side with Trump.

Some court watchers say Kavanaugh is the most likely of the Trump appointees to back his tariffs. It’s a bit of an unusual spot for Kavanaugh, who in other contexts joins Barrett or Roberts to put restraints on their more conservative colleagues, including Gorsuch.

But Kavanaugh is a staunch advocate of presidential power, particularly when interpreting statutes affecting foreign affairs or national security. “The usual understanding is that Congress intends to give the president substantial authority and flexibility to protect America and the American people,” he wrote in June in a case involving the Federal Communications Commission.

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