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The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to take up a high-stakes case over President Donald Trump’s power to impose sweeping tariffs, granting an unusually quick hearing that could reshape presidential authority over trade.
The justices scheduled arguments for November, a pace far faster than the court typically allows. Both the Trump administration and the small businesses and states challenging the tariffs had urged an expedited timetable.
Opponents of the tariffs argue that Trump unlawfully used emergency powers to levy import taxes on goods from nearly every country, nearly pushing some businesses to bankruptcy. Two lower courts have ruled that most of the tariffs were illegally imposed, though a divided appeals court allowed them to remain in effect.
The administration asked the justices to step in swiftly, warning that the nation was on “the brink of economic catastrophe” if the president is prevented from exercising broad tariff authority. Officials said the law grants him the power to regulate imports without congressional approval.
At the center of the dispute is the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. The administration contends the statute permits the president to regulate importation during national emergencies, and four appeals court judges agreed, saying Trump acted within the law. In recent decades, Congress has yielded some tariff authority to the executive branch, creating a power gap that Trump has sought to fill.
The case tests the boundaries between the constitutional authority of Congress to levy tariffs and the president’s power to act unilaterally in times of crisis. The court’s decision will come before a conservative majority that has often been reluctant to limit Trump’s executive authority. Three of the current justices were nominated by him in his first term.
The administration’s solicitor general, D. John Sauer, argued that uncertainty over the tariffs is already complicating international trade talks. He said that if the tariffs are struck down, the U.S. Treasury could be forced to refund billions in collected duties, weakening Washington’s leverage in negotiations. Sauer also contended that a ruling against the administration could hinder efforts to reduce fentanyl trafficking and to pressure Russia over its war in Ukraine.
While critics argue that the tariffs risk raising prices and slowing economic growth, Trump has defended them as a means to encourage foreign governments to enter into new trade agreements. By late August, tariff revenue reached $159 billion, more than double what had been collected at the same point a year earlier.