Rick Woldenberg, chief executive officer of Learning Resources, arrives at the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, Nov. 5, 2025.
Eric Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The CEO of Learning Resources said Friday that “we’re excited to stand on the right side of history here” after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of his educational toy company’s challenge to the legality of President Donald Trump’s unilateral tariff policy.
“We felt that we were standing for something every important,” CEO Rick Woldenberg said during an interview with CNBC’s “Money Movers.”
Woldenberg, in the first interview he gave after the Friday morning ruling, said he was “obviously feeling validated and vindicated” after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources’ favor. The court found that the tariffs Trump imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, are illegal.
“We believed it was an unlawful tax,” he said.
“I believe the Supreme Court adopted the argument we made in our complaint in April, and, you know, I’m excited by that. I’m also excited about the endorsement of rule of law being applied equally to everybody in our country.”
Woldenberg scoffed at the Trump administration’s warnings that having to refund what is estimated now to be more than $175 billion already collected under the illegal tariffs would be a burden to the government.
“They’re pretty good at taking the money from us,” he said. “I think they just got to reverse the gears and send it back.”
Woldenberg also predicted that “the refund of tariffs will act as a stimulus bill, without requiring them to go to Congress.”
“It’s a lot of money to inject into the economy, and it’s likely to accelerate growth,” the CEO said.
