President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement last week has not only rattled financial markets, but even a group of far-right billionaires who have a history of supporting Republican causes.
The Guardian reported that both a far-right group funded by both multibillionaire Charles Koch and the Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo is now suing to stop Trump’s new trade duties on China from taking effect. The New Civil Liberties Alliance argued that Trump’s invocation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify his unilateral imposition of new tariffs is illegal, and that the courts should intervene based on precedent that requires Congress weigh in on certain policy-related matters.
“This statute authorizes specific emergency actions like imposing sanctions or freezing assets to protect the United States from foreign threats,” the organization stated. “It does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. In its nearly 50-year history, no other president – including President Trump in his first term – has ever tried to use the IEEPA to impose tariffs.”
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“His attempt to use the IEEPA this way not only violates the law as written, but it also invites application of the supreme court’s major questions doctrine, which tells courts not to discern policies of ‘vast economic and political significance’ in a law without explicit congressional authorization,” the statement continued.
Mark Chenoweth, who is president of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, said that by filing the lawsuit in Pensacola, Florida court, the judge would have to abide by the aforementioned precedent, or else it would ultimately “transfer core legislative power.” And Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — who recently voted with Democrats to limit Trump’s tariff powers on Canada — opined that his colleagues in the Senate Republican Conference are also likely very uneasy about the president’s latest new import taxes,
“They all see the stock market, and they’re all worried about it,” Paul said. “But they are putting on a stiff upper lip to try to act as if nothing’s happening and hoping it goes away.”
The lawsuit also signals an escalation from the various arms of the Koch political machine. His Americans for Prosperity organization threw its weight behind former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, only for her to bow out and eventually endorse Trump after Trump won the Super Tuesday primaries.
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Click here to read the Guardian’s full report.
