Protect Democracy has filed an amicus brief in support of a challenge to President Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose unprecedented tariffs on virtually every country in the world, in the consolidated cases in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, V.O.S. Selections v. Trump. 

In the brief, Protect Democracy argues that both the Worldwide and Trafficking Tariffs abuse congressional delegations of authority to the president to act in true emergencies, extending far beyond what the National Emergencies Act (NEA) and International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) permit, and what Congress intended. The text and history of those laws confirm that presidents may invoke emergency powers only in true emergencies, adhering to the statutes’ text, structure, and purpose. The NEA and IEEPA do not permit — as the government argues — the president to declare a national emergency to deal with any longstanding problem, no matter how important.

This case is the latest in a worrying trend toward using real or manufactured emergencies to shift power away from Congress and consolidate it in the executive branch.

Additionally, this case highlights another concerning pattern: The Trump administration has increasingly sought to insulate its unprecedented actions from judicial review or accountability. As the abuse of emergency powers is a key tool that autocrats use to consolidate power and undermine checks and balances, it is even more important that courts maintain their role in reviewing executive action for compliance with statutory delegations of authority in the context of “emergency” actions. 

Protect Democracy therefore urges the Court to consider these cases using a framework that effectuates Congress’s intent in delegating emergency powers, which is to enable the president to act quickly to address unforeseen crises that require an immediate response, but not to allow the executive branch to supplant Congress’s role in addressing long-term policy matters.

Protect Democracy has long been concerned about the role of “emergencies” and the use of emergency powers to aggrandize executive power. Protect Democracy has previously filed amicus briefs in two cases at the Supreme Court concerning uses of emergency powers purportedly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. One is Biden v. Nebraska, in which Protect Democracy urged the Court to scrutinize the Biden administration’s use of emergency powers to forgive billions of dollars in student loans. The other is Arizona v. Mayorkas, concerning the Biden administration’s effort to terminate the use of emergency powers as the basis for sidestepping asylum laws and otherwise limiting immigration at the Southern border.