Cornell University law professor William Jacobson recently discussed an upcoming Supreme Court case involving former President Donald Trump’s tariffs, describing it as a matter of “very high stakes.” Jacobson appeared on the Jesse Kelly show to explain the significance of the case and its potential impact on Trump’s economic policies.
The Supreme Court is set to begin a new term in October. According to Jacobson, while the justices continue some work during their recess, such as handling emergency motions, the official term is when they hear oral arguments and runs from October through June. He explained that “term is just a docketing method to get things on the calendar.”
Jacobson identified the Trump tariffs case as likely “the most economically significant case that we’re going to face” this term. The central issue concerns whether President Trump exceeded his authority by imposing emergency tariffs. Jacobson outlined two main questions: whether Trump properly invoked an emergency and whether tariffs are permitted as a remedy under the relevant statute.
He said, “There are two issues there. One is did he properly invoke there being an emergency? I think the Supreme Court’s going to say that decision is up to the president. But the more interesting one, which is where he lost in the federal court below, is whether tariffs are even a remedy under this emergency statute. And what they held below in the federal court of appeals was that even if he properly invoked the emergency, tariffs is not one of the remedies. Tariffs are reserved for Congress. The statute doesn’t mention tariffs. So he exceeded his authority.”
Jacobson added, “I think it’s going to be a close call. I don’t know which way that one’s going to go, but his entire economic agenda in many ways, or at least a significant part of it, is built around the tariffs. So this is a very high stakes case.”
Jesse Kelly asked if a ruling against Trump would unravel previous deals and collected tariffs: “Does that mean if they rule against him that all that stuff becomes unraveled? Is that what that means?”
Jacobson responded: “It could, yeah. I mean, people are talking about perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs that have been collected are going to have to be returned to people. So yes, it’s very high stakes. If they rule that what he did was without authority, then it all comes apart.”
The outcome of this Supreme Court decision could affect both past and future tariff collections related to Trump’s trade policy.
