{"id":44937,"date":"2025-11-06T12:30:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T20:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=44937"},"modified":"2025-11-06T12:30:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T20:30:46","slug":"trump-critics-fear-presidency-without-limits-as-supreme-court-hears-tariffs-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/11\/06\/trump-critics-fear-presidency-without-limits-as-supreme-court-hears-tariffs-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Critics Fear \u2018Presidency Without Limits\u2019 as Supreme Court Hears Tariffs Case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Trump<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump departs at the White House to the Miami, Florida on November 5, 2025, in Washington DC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Celal Gunes\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One critic warned a Trump win \u201cwill cement a precedent that expands his power as executive in a dangerous and unprecedented way.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nov 05, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the US Supreme Court<\/a> on Wednesday began hearing arguments on the sweeping powers claimed by President Donald Trump<\/a> to impose tariffs<\/a> on foreign goods, many critics warned that the court would create a \u201cpresidency without limits\u201d if it ruled in his favor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April, Trump unveiled unprecedented tariffs<\/a> on nearly every nation in the world using powers granted under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law passed in 1977 that allows the president to regulate international commerce during major emergencies such as wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Many Trump critics believe that using this law as the legal foundation of a global tariff regime is a gross abuse of the law\u2019s original intent, and are urging the Supreme Court<\/a> to shut it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Edkins, managing director of policy and political affairs at Stand Up America, warned that granting the president this level of authority over the taxation<\/a> of imported goods would \u201copen the door to broader abuses of power\u201d by emboldening Trump to usurp even more authority from the US Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re already dangerously close to a presidency without limits,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s time for the right-wing<\/a> majority on the court to stand up for our Constitution and serve as a check on Trump\u2019s power, starting with this case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josh Orton, president of progressive legal advocacy organization Demand Justice, also said that the tariff case before the Supreme Court \u201cis about far more than an economic debate or a trade-law dispute,\u201d given its implications for the separation of powers laid out in the US Constitution<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump is demanding that the court hand him raw power over the economy,\u201d said Orton. \u201cIf Trump wins here, he won\u2019t just raise costs on American families. He will cement a precedent that expands his power as executive in a dangerous and unprecedented way\u2014letting any president unilaterally rewrite trade<\/a> law, punish certain industries, harm consumers, or leverage international allies for personal gain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leor Tal, campaign director at the progressive advocacy coalition Unrig Our Economy, argued that the Supreme Court wouldn\u2019t even need to hear the case on the Trump tariffs if Congress<\/a> reasserted its authority given under the US Constitution to levy taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs the Supreme Court hears a case with implications for whether Americans can afford groceries, school supplies, and more, people will remember that Republicans<\/a> in Congress could end these disastrous tariffs today and should have done so a long time ago,\u201d she said<\/a>. \u201cThese tariffs are nothing more than a tax on working Americans, and Republicans in Congress have voted time and again to keep them in place… Republicans in Congress must act immediately to repeal Trump\u2019s tariffs and finally put working people first.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Wednesday\u2019s hearing on the tariffs case, conservative Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch<\/a> raised concerns about allowing the president to usurp congressional powers in perpetuity by issuing emergency declarations that Congress must then vote to revoke before it can resume its duties outlined<\/a> in Article I of the US Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo Congress, as a practical matter, can\u2019t get this power back once it\u2019s handed it over to the president,\u201d Gorsuch remarked. \u201cIt\u2019s a one-way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power in the executive branch and away from the people\u2019s elected representatives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sauer tried to counter this by pointing to former President Joe Biden<\/a> agreeing in 2023 to sign bipartisan legislation ending the national health emergency caused by the Covid-19<\/a> pandemic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gorsuch, however, countered that this only occurred with the president\u2019s consent, and that it would otherwise take a supermajority to end a declared emergency if the president elected to veto the congressional resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gorsuch: So congress as a practical matter, can't get this power back once it's handed it over to the president.. one way ratchet toward the gradual but continual accretion of power in the executive branch and away from the people's elected representatives. pic.twitter.com\/secLyWMX7H<\/a><\/p>— Acyn (@Acyn) November 5, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>