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President Donald Trump speaks as he signs an executive order concerning drug prices, held in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, May 12, 2025 (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein).

On Wednesday, an attorney from the Department of Justice encountered a particularly skeptical judge in Manhattan while advocating for President Donald Trump‘s latest international tariff policies.

During a session before a three-judge panel at the U.S. Court of International Trade, DOJ lawyer Brett Shumate repeatedly faced challenges, particularly from Senior Judge Jane A. Restani, a Reagan appointee to the New York-based court.

During the hearing, the specialized court, empowered to hear all national and some international civil disputes over trade-related matters, considered a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by Oregon, which aims to put the kibosh on Trump’s “illegal tariffs.”

The government lawyer had a particularly hard time with various arguments before Restani, while the other judges also asked exacting questions of both sides, according to courtroom reports by the Capital Press, the Globe and Mail, and the Reuters wire service.

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At one point during the hearing, the DOJ lawyer offered a public policy defense of Trump’s tariffs.

“The purpose of these tariffs is to create pressure,” he said, “Tariffs right now are giving the president the leverage he needs.”

The judge rubbished this line of thought as immaterial, focusing instead on fundamental statutory interpretation.

“It may be a very dandy plan, but it has to meet the statute,” Restani said.

The key statute at issue is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which the Trump administration has cited in various tariff declarations and legal filings.

As Law&Crime previously reported, the IEEPA grants the executive sweeping authority to quickly combat international economic crises and permits the executive to order sanctions as a rapid response to international emergencies.

In their 38-page complaint, the 12-state coalition led by Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield insists Trump “has no authority to arbitrarily impose tariffs as he has done here.” Specifically, the Democratic Party-led states allege the tariffs exceed “what is necessary ‘to deal with’ the purported emergency.”

For his part, Shumate essayed an understanding of the IEEPA, where the traditional review function of the courts is nonexistent.

This idea did not sit well with Restani.

“Nothing is so crazy or unrelated that it could be stopped by the courts,” the judge said, channeling the argument in a negative fashion. “Anything is allowed — anything crazy, any declaration of emergency based on some crazy thing, any remedy, how crazy as it could be — it’s all okay because the courts can’t do anything.”

The government attorney insisted, however, that Congress alone has oversight of the president’s IEEPA.

“At the end of the day, Congress can review,” Shumate said. “Congress can put pressure on the President.”

But the judge was not convinced by the likelihood of the legislative branch taking the rare step of upbraiding and cabining the executive.

“By two-thirds majority in each house of Congress, it can decide that this is too crazy,” Restani said.

Shumate was adamant that legislators had an arsenal of checks and balances if they wanted to take action.

“Congress could repeal IEEPA,” the DOJ attorney said. “Congress could take any number of measures — could not confirm the president’s nominees. At the end of the day, that’s the system that our framers set up.”

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