Barackface: 14: Trump

Top Trump official suggests signature policy may be in 'serious legal trouble': analysis President Donald Trump administration is beginning to realize that his assertion of nearly boundless, unilateral authority to impose tariffs at any rate of his choosing may not be legally possible ........
"The president’s claim of virtually unlimited, unilateral power to impose tariffs at whatever rate he chooses is in serious legal trouble"
........ the forceful letter sent by Justice Department officials on Monday to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, following last month’s hearings, warned that a rollback of Trump’s tariff powers could precipitate a second Great Depression. It said: “In such a scenario ... millions of jobs would be eliminated, hard‑working Americans would lose their savings, and even Social Security and Medicare could be threatened.” And they concluded: “In short, the economic consequences would be ruinous, instead of unprecedented success.” .............. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Fox News Tuesday: “The amount of money that’s coming in here — I think the more deals we’ve done, the more money coming in, it gets harder and harder for [the Supreme Court] to rule against us.” ............. "Think about that for a second. At issue in the tariff case is whether the president is usurping Congress’s power to tax. And the Treasury secretary is pointing out that the tax is so large that the courts can’t possibly find that the president has exceeded his power. That has it backward." ........... revenue‑raising authority lies with Congress. He cited James Madison, who wrote in the Federalist Papers, “The legislative department alone has access to the pockets of the people.” ..........
Tariffs ... are taxes imposed on U.S. importers — both individuals and companies — paid to Customs and Border Protection, which then transfers the proceeds to the U.S. Treasury.
.......... "If Trump is ordering Americans to pay huge sums of money without clear authorization from Congress, that ought to heighten judicial scrutiny of whether the taxes are legal" .......... Bessent's point about the “deals we’ve done” with other countries is constitutionally stronger. "The Supreme Court doesn’t want to intervene in diplomacy, which — unlike taxation — is a core presidential power."

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