Yes. Congress has the power to authorize Trumps Tariffs or even to cede authority to Trump to do so.
Of course, that would require they actual open the government, overcome a Senate fillibuster and get it through both houses of congress to extend wildly unpopular tariffs.
But had they gone through those proper legal steps in the first place we wouldn’t be in front of the SC now.
The Senate has voted three times now to cancel the “international emergency” that supposedly allows Trump to make up tariffs, with moderate Republicans jumping party lines.
The House has never called the vote.
I assume a simple majority is all that is required by the House for such a vote to succeed?
Yes. Basically Congress is supposed to be in charge of taxes.
(There is a law that let’s Trump impose tariffs on certain things for National Security purposes, and that’s what he did last term.)
But he’s also allowed to declare a “national emergency”, in case of an “unusual and extraordinary threat,” that allows him to “regulate trade”.
The SCOTUS likes Trump, but they probably don’t want to hand the President lots of Unconstitutional power over such a weak argument. But who knows.
No…
First the house republicans passed some procedural rule (bill?) that stops them from ever voting on the matter.
And if they did, the president could and would veto. And then it would take two-thirds, which is impossible.
AFAIK, if it is a procedural rule, it doesn’t need Trump’s signature. Each chamber makes its own rules.
A law would be a different story, but I don’t know how you can pass a law that prevents a House vote. Same issue, they make their own procedural rules.
If there was a real “emergency” I would be more sympathetic.
trump.is my president, how is that not an emergency in itself???
Unfortunately the tariffs the SC are looking at are only a fraction of the tariffs being collected by the US on Canadian imports. The Trump case is laughable on that part so I still take some consolation in that.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-tariffs-supreme-court-9.6968257
Sort of a random thought. Ive generally thought that canada not being able to vote for our prime minister as a drawback. But these days, it feels like thats a positive. Because while we dont get a direct say in who it is (and sometimes not at all), at the same time, our pm has pretty much zero authority to do much of anything. Theres too much authority in the hands of individual and collective cabinet members.
Im.sure theres some things they can do, but not as ongoing as whats happening in the US. Iirc, even declaring any sort or martial law or emergency takes votes.
Turns out that despite the basis for our government system, we actually have less problems with kings.
It will only cover his emergency IEEPA tariffs so Canada is still being targeted.
Its going to be very messy when the SC rules against him and he starts stalling when it comes to returning the $90 billion they collected. Thats when a great many lawsuits are likely to start.
I thought the House already voted to surrender their powers to Trump…
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/09/16/congress/house-again-votes-to-surrender-tariff-powers-to-trump-00566975