Arguments Over Trump Tariffs Hit Supreme Court

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00:00Tyler, give us a sense of the stakes as the arguments are delivered.

00:06Yeah, hey, Joe. So we're just about a little over two hours into the oral arguments today,

00:12and it does appear that the justices may be casting doubt on the Trump administration's

00:16argument. There are two central questions at the center of today's hearing. One,

00:21does President Trump have the legal authority to impose tariffs under IEPA,

00:24the International Emergency Economic Powers Act? Because it's never been used in this way before.

00:29And two, if he does have the authority, can he do so without congressional approval? And it is that

00:35latter question that appears to really be at the forefront of the justices' questions today.

00:40Many of them are asking the Solicitor General just this. In fact, we're hearing the Solicitor

00:45General, who is representing the administration, try to distance the administration's argument

00:49away from the fact that tariffs can be used as a revenue raiser. We're going to keep hearing this

00:54come up because revenue raising sounds a lot like the power of the purse, which sounds like it would

00:59fall under Congress's purview. Instead, the White House is trying to make this all about

01:03foreign actors and national emergencies. The other part of this is that in order to invoke

01:08IEPA tariffs, the president had to declare a national emergency. And we're hearing some of

01:13the justices question whether or not those so-called reciprocal tariffs enacted over this national

01:18emergency, according to the administration of persistent trade imbalances, meets that legal

01:23standard for an unusual and extraordinary circumstance in order for there to be a national

01:28emergency. There's a lot still to follow here in this case. But Joe, we heard the plaintiffs argue

01:34that the administration could have used other tariff powers. And that might become even more pertinent

01:38depending on how this court case goes. We know the administration is preparing these other

01:43authorities like Section 232, those national security tariffs. And we're not expecting the levies to go

01:49away. But Joe, I'll leave you with this. About 60 percent of the tariffs so far implemented this

01:53term are tied to IEPA. So this could have some pretty sweeping impacts. Boy, it sure sounds like

01:58it. Tyler, can you give us a sense of what we're hearing? We're obviously on TV and radio here,

02:02but it's a pretty noisy situation behind you. How many folks have turned out at the court for these

02:06arguments? So there is a crowd here against President Trump's tariffs. We know that this court in

02:15particular has some weighted circumstances when it comes to presidential authority because while

02:21the Supreme Court has ruled on an emergency basis around President Trump's policies before, this is

02:26the first time the court is hearing a case related to his actual policy that would have longstanding

02:32impacts. This is a longer term case, not just an emergency ruling. So that's really significant here

02:39as we look at the broader circumstances. But definitely loud out here in front of the Supreme Court today.