The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the Trump administration’s request to hear its appeal of lower court rulings that many of President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs are illegal.
The Supreme Court also agreed with the administration’s request to consider the appeal on a faster-than-normal timeline.
The court said it would hear oral arguments in the first week of its November argument session.
The Trump administration, in asking for the expedited appeal, had warned that the Treasury Department could be forced to refund between $750 billion and $1 trillion in collected tariffs if the Supreme Court waited until next June to issue a decision that agrees with lower court judges that the duties are illegal.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a 7-4 ruling on Aug. 29 said that Trump usurped the authority of Congress to impose tariffs when he slapped steep duties on imports from many countries earlier this year.
Trump had invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in. imposing those tariffs. The appeals court, in upholding a ruling by the Court of International Trade, said a president’s authority to regulate imports during a national emergency does not mean a president can impose world-wide tariffs with no expiration date, as Trump has done.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would consolidate the Trump administration’s appeal of that ruling, with a similar case in which a federal judge said the tariffs were illegal.
Trump’s tariffs remain in effect as the high court considers the administration’s appeal.
A security guard walks down the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., July 19, 2024.
Kevin Mohatt | Reuters
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