Yesterday, the Liberty Justice Center and I filed our appellate brief VOS Selections, Inc. v. Trump, the case challenging Trump's massive "Liberation Day" tariffs on behalf of five small businesses. We are working with Neal Katyal and Michael McConnell, both leading constitutional law scholars and appellate litigators. The case is before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, consolidated with a related case filed by 12 state governments, led by Oregon. We are defending a unanimous ruling in our favor by the US Court of International Trade. The key issue, as before, is that the government claims the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA) grants the president unlimited power to impose tariffs on any nation, in any amount, for any reason, for any length of time. We contend IEEPA grants no such authority, and if it did it would be an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the executive.
Yesterday was also the deadline for amicus briefs filed in support of our side. This post is an overview of some of the most notable ones. The bottom line is that rarely has a case attracted such a broad and impressive range of amici from across the political spectrum, and different sectors of the economy and civil society. Many of the briefs also make important points. By contrast, there are only two amicus briefs supporting the government, both filed by divisions of Stephen Miller's right-wing nationalist America First organization.
