The Liberty Justice Center has initiated legal actions against the Trump Administration over the imposition of "Liberation Day" tariffs, challenging the authority to implement these tariffs without congressional consent. The case was filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade as the lawsuit claims these tariffs are adversely affecting small businesses nationwide. The center argues that the administration lacks legal backing to impose a 10% global tariff and additional higher tariffs on certain countries without legislative approval.
The President defended the tariffs using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which allows emergency economic measures following a declaration of a national emergency due to a threat from outside the U.S. However, the lawsuit disputes this justification, stating a trade deficit is neither an emergency nor a threat. The filing also asserts that IEEPA does not empower the President to impose tariffs, and even if it did, it would represent an unconstitutional delegation of Congress's authority.
Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, emphasized, "No one person should have the power to impose taxes that have such vast global economic consequences." Ilya Somin, co-counsel and a law professor at Scalia Law School, expressed, "If starting the biggest trade war since the Great Depression based on a law that doesn’t even mention tariffs is not an unconstitutional usurpation of legislative power, I don’t know what is."
Representatives from various businesses affected by the tariffs have voiced their struggles. Victor Owen Schwartz of VOS Selections described the challenges with state pricing regulations, while Dan Pastore of FishUSA spoke of the difficulties in maintaining operations amid tariff fluctuations. Andrew Reese from Genova Pipe highlighted increased production costs and export challenges. David Levi of MicroKits LLC criticized the lack of government accountability in economic decisions, and Nik Holm from Terry Precision Cycling stressed the impact of tariffs on their business sustainability.
The case, V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump, was officially filed on April 14, 2025.