Supreme Court Rules 6-3 That IEEPA Does Not Authorize the President to Impose Tariffs
On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. In an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court held that IEEPA's authority to “regulate … importation” during an emergency does not include the power to impose tariffs, a power the Constitution assigns to Congress.
The case was decided together with Trump v. V.O.S. Selections, Inc. The core of the opinion was joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson; the portions resting on the major questions doctrine were joined only by Roberts, Gorsuch and Barrett. Justice Kagan wrote separately, agreeing in the result on ordinary principles of statutory interpretation. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas joined a dissent by Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The Court affirmed the Federal Circuit's decision in V.O.S. Selections, which had upheld the Court of International Trade's ruling that the IEEPA tariffs exceeded the president's authority.
The tariffs struck down include the “reciprocal” tariffs the Trump administration imposed on nearly all trading partners under IEEPA, and the IEEPA tariffs on goods from China, Canada and Mexico imposed over the flow of fentanyl. Tariffs imposed under other statutes, such as Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, are unaffected. The ruling itself did not address how duties already collected should be refunded.
On the day of the ruling, President Trump signed an executive order ending the tariff actions taken under IEEPA, and said the administration would keep tariffs in place under other legal authorities, including Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
Related: Federal Circuit Rules 7-4 That IEEPA Tariffs Are Unlawful, Affirming the Trade Court
Source: Supreme Court of the United States
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于美国华盛顿的美国最高法院大楼黄昏全景（资料照片）。Joe Ravi 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The United States Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., at dusk (file photo). Photo by Joe Ravi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- 2025-08-29Federal Circuit Rules 7-4 That IEEPA Tariffs Are Unlawful, Affirming the Trade Court
- 2026-02-20Supreme Court Rules 6-3 That IEEPA Does Not Authorize the President to Impose TariffsThis story
