American businesses that filed a joint lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s tariffs have petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case, effectively sidestepping a lower court in search of a speedier resolution.
The plaintiffs, two toy importers called Learning Resources and Hand2Mind, saw an Illinois federal court rule in their favor in late May after filing a lawsuit against the president alleging that he overstepped his authority in utilizing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs. But the court’s decision, along with a parallel ruling from a New York-based Court of International Trade, was put on hold amid appeals from the Trump administration.
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In light of the impact of the duties on U.S. businesses importing goods from overseas, the plaintiffs argued that challenges to the administration’s tariff regime can’t wait for the normal appellate process to play out—even on an expedited timeline. They asked the Supreme Court to swiftly grant a review the lower court’s decision.
According to the complainants, “the President with the stroke of a pen increased the Nation’s effective tariff rate tenfold to the highest it has been in more than a century”—an act that he is attempting to justify through the unprecedented use of IEEPA, and one that will cost Americans “billions of dollars.”
IEEPA, a little-known trade rule signed into law by President Jimmy Carter, allows the president to regulate international commerce in the event of a national emergency caused by an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the country’s security or economy. It authorizes the Commander in Chief to use economic sanctions—like freezing assets or blocking transactions—to thwart foreign influence by bad actors, from terrorists to cyber criminals.
But the plaintiffs in the suit against Trump argued that IEEPA doesn’t give the president the power to impose sweeping tariffs on trade partners across the globe—or sanction his ability to leverage duties in any way. They pointed to the rulings of the Court of International Trade, as well as the federal district court that decided their case, underscoring that both found the administration’s tariffs unlawful.
“But as of last week, both lower court injunctions have been stayed pending appeal. Even as these punishing tariffs cause American businesses and consumers to bleed billions of dollars each month, there will be no relief any time soon,” they wrote.
With much confusion swirling around the lawfulness of the tariffs and the president’s authority to impose them, the plaintiffs asked that the Supreme Court rule simply on the question of whether IEEPA authorizes the president to impose tariffs.
“That pure question of law, implicating core separation-of-powers concerns, is in fact the only merits question that the government believes courts have the power to answer. It will inevitably fall to this Court to resolve it definitively,” the petition read.
Learning Resources and Hand2Mind are among a bevy of plaintiffs—including more than a dozen states’ attorneys general, and a handful of businesses—that have taken on Trump for what they perceive to be an unjust and unsubstantiated use of tariffs. And there’s no question of timing when it comes to elevating the issue to the Supreme Court, as the administration’s three-month deferral of so-called reciprocal duties is set to expire on July 9, ushering in a flood of double-digit duties on goods from across the globe.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted last week that Trump might be willing to push out that deadline in the interest of continuing negotiations with trade partners—specifically, 18 of the most prominent countries or trade blocs doing business with the U.S. Last week, the administration touted an interim trade deal with China, wherein the sourcing titan will pay 55 percent duties on imports into the U.S. after a 90-day cooling off period. The finer details of that agreement have not been released.
Outside of China, only the United Kingdom has reached a deal with the U.S. during the negotiating period. Announced in early May at an Oval Office signing, the deal—which lowered tariffs on British cars as well as steel, aluminum and aerospace equipment—was finalized by Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday.
