The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. ruled on Aug. 29 that most of the tariffs imposed by the President are illegal (with the exception of the “sectoral” or “industry-wide” tariffs which were not at issue in the case), due to the tax power being given solely to Congress by the Constitution. (N.B.: The often-cited McKinley tariffs were established by the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890, when William McKinley was in the Congress.)
The statutory (emergency) grounds argued by the White House were found not sufficient to set the Constitution aside. The same ruling had previously been made by the court of first instance, the United States Court of International Trade, and had been appealed by the Administration to the Federal Circuit Appeals Court. The Appeals Court had stayed the order of the Trade Court pending appeal; and now, it has stayed its own order until Oct. 14, inviting appeal to the Supreme Court. So, a possible inference is that the Appeals Court has a political desire not to impede Trump’s tariffs, but could not discover a way to defend their Constitutional infirmity. Now it will be seen if the Supreme Court’s desire is even stronger, to declare the White House’s actions evading the law, lawful.
