Trump says US would be on ‘brink of economic catastrophe’ unless justices rule his tariffs are legal
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is seeking a swift and definitive decision on tariffs from the Supreme Court that he helped shape, saying the country would be on “the brink of economic catastrophe” without the import taxes he has imposed on U.S. rivals and allies alike.
The administration used near-apocalyptic terms that are highly unusual in Supreme Court filings as it asked the justices late Wednesday to intervene and reverse an appeals court ruling that found most of Trump’s tariffs are an illegal use of an emergency powers law. The tariffs remain in place, for now.
The case comes to a court that has so far been reluctant to check Trump’s extraordinary flex of executive power. One big question is whether the justice’s own expansive view of presidential authority allows for Trump’s tariffs without the explicit approval of Congress, which the Constitution endows with the power over tariffs. Three of the justices on conservative-majority court were nominated by Trump in his first term.