In U.S. Supreme Court, Trump administration struggles to make its case for tariffs

Mike Crawley · CBC News

· Posted: Nov 05, 2025 7:03 PM EST | Last Updated: November 6

With U.S. President Donald Trump choosing not to be Wednesday's Supreme Court oral arguments connected his tariff authorities — saying somewhat uncharacteristically: "It's not astir me" — it looked similar the astir celebrated idiosyncratic watching the proceedings would beryllium his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

But past John Mulaney showed up.

The comedian didn't archer reporters wherefore helium was there, but helium erstwhile appeared connected lawyer Neal Katyal's podcast to sermon "the parallels betwixt Supreme Court arguments and stand-up."

Which brings america backmost to the tariffs case, due to the fact that Katyal presented the arguments Wednesday for the tiny businesses who sued the Trump administration.

WATCH | U.S. Supreme Court justices question Trump's usage of tariffs:

“Tariffs are taxes. They instrumentality dollars from Americans’ pockets and deposit them successful the U.S. Treasury,” Katyal told the tribunal close disconnected the apical of his opening statement. 

“Our founders gave that taxing powerfulness to Congress alone. Yet present the president bypassed Congress and imposed 1 of the largest taxation increases successful our lifetimes.”

The contented of whether the tariffs are a taxation is cardinal to the lawsuit due to the fact that the U.S. Constitution says lone Congress has the powerfulness to tax.

The lawyer presenting the administration's lawsuit tried to transportation the justices that Trump's across-the-board tariffs connected imports from astir 100 countries are not truly a tax.

'Who pays the tariffs?'

That argument, from Trump's Solicitor General John Sauer, appeared not to spell implicit truthful good with the court, including immoderate of its blimpish justices.

Sauer spoke dismissively of what helium called "the conception that these are taxes that are each borne by Americans" and added, "There's nary ground for that successful the record."

Chief Justice John Roberts leapt connected that assertion.

“Well who pays the tariffs?” asked Roberts, who was nominated to the Supreme Court successful 2005 by then-president George W. Bush, a Republican.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, seen present astatine Donald Trump's inauguration connected March 4, appeared skeptical of arguments successful favour of the president's tariffs. (Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)

"Sometimes the overseas shaper would wage them. Sometimes the importer would carnivore the cost. The importer could beryllium an American, could beryllium a overseas company," Sauer explained.

“It's been suggested that the tariffs are liable for a important simplification successful our deficit,” Roberts said. “I would accidental that's raising gross domestically.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch, different conservative, said doubly during the proceeding that helium was "struggling" to judge Sauer's arguments.

No president earlier Trump has utilized the 1977 International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy tariffs. The enactment empowers the president to "regulate" imports.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who was nominated to the apical tribunal by Trump successful his archetypal term, asked Sauer to constituent to "any different clip successful history" erstwhile immoderate instrumentality that allows a president to modulate imports besides gave the authorization to enforce tariffs. Sauer enactment guardant a brace of examples that Barrett seemed to sprout down.

The Trump medication mislaid this lawsuit successful each the little courts. At the level preceding the Supreme Court, appeals tribunal judges likewise questioned Trump's authorization to usage the IEEPA to enforce his tariff authorities without explicit support from Congress.

U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer, seen present successful July 2023, presented the administration's lawsuit astatine Wednesday's hearing. (Patrick Semansky/The Associated Press)

Veterans of covering the Supreme Court analyse the lines of questioning from the court's 9 justices to get a consciousness of wherever the determination could beryllium headed. The wide taxable successful Wednesday's coverage: the code of skepticism successful the pointed questions from the court's blimpish judges.

"Key Supreme Court conservatives seemed skeptical" of the Trump administration's case, The Associated Press reported successful its quality point connected the hearing.

Most of the justices "asked skeptical questions about President Trump’s usage of exigency powers to enforce tariffs connected imports from astir each U.S. trading partner," the New York Times reported.

Trump's planetary tariff authorities "appeared to beryllium connected shaky crushed aft Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism" astir his authorization to enforce the sweeping import taxes, said the Wall Street Journal.

Amy Howe, cofounder of the everything-Supreme-Court website SCOTUSBlog, says she believes the tribunal volition onslaught down the tariffs.

• RECAP | U.S. Supreme Court justices question Trump’s sweeping usage of tariffs
• Win oregon suffer astatine the Supreme Court, Trump has different tariff tools astatine his disposal

"Some of my colleagues successful the property country were speculating that it could adjacent beryllium 9-0," Howe told the U.S. nationalist affairs web C-SPAN aft the hearing. While she besides predicted the ruling volition spell against the Trump administration, she said it's much apt to beryllium a 6-3 oregon 7-2 split.

It volition instrumentality weeks oregon perchance months earlier the tribunal renders its decision.

If the tariffs are ruled illegal, the Treasury could beryllium forced to wage backmost the $90 cardinal (US) that has been collected truthful acold done the tariffs Trump imposed nether the IEEPA.

The ruling volition not, however, bash thing astir the Trump tariffs that presently person the biggest interaction connected the Canadian economy. 

Trump utilized long-established statesmanlike powers to support U.S. industries erstwhile helium levied tariffs connected steel, aluminum, automobiles and softwood lumber.

The Canada-specific tariffs that could beryllium struck down are those that Trump imposed successful March past boosted to 35 per cent this summer, ostensibly arsenic a effect to cross-border fentanyl trafficking.

Those tariffs deed a comparatively tiny portion of Canadian exports: goods deemed non-compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. 

How small? Official U.S. authorities figures show that $1.97 cardinal (US) has been collected this twelvemonth successful IEEPA tariffs connected imports from Canada.

A radical of Capitol Police officers basal defender successful beforehand of the U.S. Supreme Court connected Wednesday. (Mariam Zuhaib/The Associated Press)