For Immediate Release
Dallas--The Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) is pleased that the Supreme Court has correctly decided that President Trump improperly used the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose harmful, capricious, sometimes malicious and often incoherent tariffs on goods purchased by American businesses and consumers. And we await the comedy of a response from the Trump administration.
All tariffs thus unconstitutionally collected by the U.S. Government should automatically and immediately be refunded to those who paid them, without challenge and without delay. Anything less can only be interpreted as the Trump administration refusing to comply with a Supreme Court ruling, and would continue the ongoing economic harm caused by tariffs. Essentially, a chunk of private sector capital was unconstitutionally removed from the private economy and transferred to government. Conservatives have never believed that government is a wiser and more efficient steward of resources than is the private sector.
We are disappointed that it apparently did not trouble three supposedly textualist justices that the word “tariff” appears nowhere in the text of IEEPA.
We look forward to future occasions when the other party attempts to similarly impose tariffs and we will be able to point out that progressive Supreme Court justices found otherwise.
We realize that the President will undoubtedly attempt to reimpose as many of the tariffs as possible under different legal justification, but we also have no doubt that he will similarly misuse those statutes as well, ignoring conditions, limitations, and time durations. We similarly expect Congress to refuse to accept and exercise its constitutional duty over such policies. Still, today was a good day for the Constitution, for the rule of law, and for the economy.