NCLA Aims for Court Ruling to Overturn Trump’s Tariffs

A conservative legal organization is challenging the Trump administration in Texas over the president’s unilateral tariff system. They have requested that a federal judge declare these tariffs “unlawful as a matter of law” and approve their summary judgment plea, which would decisively resolve the case for the plaintiffs.

In a 22-page document filed on Monday at the U.S. District Court in Austin, Texas, the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) claimed that the power to impose tariffs resides solely with Congress. They argued that President Donald Trump overstepped his presidential authority by implementing the tariff system through executive orders, resulting in “chaos in financial markets.”

The motion declares, “The President has claimed the ability to impose new tariffs on any imports, from any country, in any amount at his discretion. The issuance, delay, and withdrawal of these Executive Orders appear arbitrary. These Orders have disrupted the tariff framework created by Congress over many decades. However, the President does not possess the authority to issue these orders.”

The group states that the president has attempted to bypass mandatory congressional consent by invoking an obscure emergency power — specifically, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) — in a way that has never been employed since the law’s enactment nearly fifty years ago.

The NCLA contends that Trump’s application of an emergency statute without an actual emergency is expressly unlawful. This argument draws parallels to opposition against the president’s use of an 18th-century wartime power for mass deportations with minimal or no apparent due process, despite the U.S. not being in a state of war.

Moreover, the organization claims that even in a true emergency, the IEEPA does not allow Trump to impose tariffs without Congress’s consent.

“He has dressed the Executive Orders (the ‘Tariff Executive Orders’) in the guise of an ’emergency’ by citing the International Economic Emergency Powers Act. But emergency or no, IEEPA does not authorize tariffs — it has nothing to do with them,” plaintiffs wrote. “The Constitution vests exclusive control over tariffs with Congress and Congress has not granted the President any ’emergency’ authority to order tariffs. IEEPA’s text, structure, and longstanding interpretation all dictate this conclusion. IEEPA authorizes certain economic sanctions to defend Americans against ‘foreign threats’ — but it says nothing about taxing Americans by imposing tariffs. It never mentions the topic.”

Such “statutory silence” on the tariff issue is sufficient to end the case in plaintiffs favor because “the President cannot treat Congress’s silence on a topic as an affirmative grant of power,” the motion continues.

To bolster its claim, the group points to the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings invalidating the Biden administration’s attempt to forgive hundreds of billions in federal student loans as well as its effort to force the nation’s power plants to transition away from coal, both of which were based on executive emergency powers.

“The conclusion that IEEPA did not authorize tariffs is further confirmed by a series of recent Supreme Court decisions striking down Executive Branch efforts like the one challenged in this case: attempts that cite general statutory language, in an inventive way, to claim authority that is sweeping and unprecedented,” the NCLA wrote. “The decisions have applied the major questions doctrine, which requires a showing of ‘clear congressional authorization’ for the authority the President claims.”

The NCLA filed the complaint on behalf of outdoor cooking manufacturer FIREDISC, the nonprofit Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), and Ryan Wholesale, a company that manufactures timber trusses and other wood products. The suit alleges that the “unconstitutional” tariffs will force the plaintiffs to pay more, thereby driving up their costs as well as the prices for their customers.

“The illegal tariffs continue to damage millions of people and businesses across the country unconstitutionally,” John Vecchione, Senior Litigation Counsel for NCLA said in a recent statement. “The IEEPA gives the President no tariff power and is not a tariff statute. It is now up to the courts to stop them.”

This is the second such lawsuit filed by the non-profit group over President Donald Trump’s levies. The first lawsuit filed by the group challenging Trump’s tariffs has been transferred to the U.S. Court of International Trade in Manhattan.