Search results for tag #law
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#Gorsuch has questions about both “major questions” & “nondelegation”. He is asking Sauer to provide limits on the broadest reading of the administration’s arguments in favor of #tariffs.
Sauer agreed that another, very different president would have the authority to declare climate change an emergency & impose tariffs to deal with it.
#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy
#Gorsuch has mostly worried about #Congress giving away too much of its power to federal agencies. It’s unclear whether he’ll have the same reservation with the president involved.
#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy
#Congress can delegate some of its powers to the executive branch, but there are limits.
Some of the conservative justices want to reinvigorate a legal doctrine that was last used in 1935.
Justice Neil #Gorsuch voted in dissent in June to strike down universal service fee on phone bills as an #unconstitutional delegation of congressional power. The challenges hope to attract his vote on #tariffs on the same basis.
#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy
There have been multiple questions about the exact meanings of the words used in #IEEPA, the #law that #Trump is using to impose the #tariffs, particularly as it pertains to presidential powers.
Justices are asking Sauer about he interprets the verbs used in the section under presidential power, & particularly second "B" (in pic), what does it mean to "regulate," the meaning of "importation" & what is meant by "license."
#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy
Alt...
IEEPA (a) IN GENERAL (1) At the times and to the extent specified in section 1701 of this title, the President may, under such regulations as he may prescribe, by means of instructions, licenses, or otherwise— (A) investigate, regulate, or prohibit- (i) any transactions in foreign exchange, (ii) transfers of credit or payments between, by, through, or to any banking institution, to the extent that such transfers or payments involve any interest of any foreign country or a national thereof, (iii) the importing or exporting of currency or securities, by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; (B) investigate, block during the pendency of an investigation, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void, prevent or prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use, transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation of, or dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with respect to, or transactions involving, any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States; and.
Sauer told justices the #tariffs are “regulatory tariffs.”
“They are not revenue-raising tariffs. The fact that they raise revenue is only incidental,” he said, arguing that #Trump was not exercising an authority to #tax but rather to #regulate foreign commerce.
But Trump has regularly touted the amount of money tariffs have purportedly brought in.
#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy
Part of the questioning is now revolving around whether the president can use #IEEPA to ban products, but not put #tariffs on them. IEEPA is used to ban imports in a #sanctions context, for example with #trade embargoes on Russia or Iran. But American consumers probably would not respond kindly if #Trump were to ban imports altogether.
#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy
"Can you point to any other place in the code or any other time in history where that phrase together 'regulate importation' has been used to confer tariff imposing authority?" Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked.
#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy
Justice Amy #ConeyBarrett is drilling down to a key question in the case: Does the word “regulate” allow #tariffs?
The #Trump admin argues that it does, & that’s why they say he can impose & change tariffs during national emergencies.
Barrett grilled him on that point, questioning whether regulate has frequently been used to allow for tariffs.
Barrett is a conservative who’s gone her own way on some cases, & her vote will be key in the case.
Chief Justice #Roberts says the major questions doctrine seems to apply here. If so, that is bad news for the #Trump admin.
“The vehicle is the imposition of #taxes on Americans, & that has always been a core power of #Congress,” Chief Justice Roberts says.
#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy
#Roberts is questioning the government’s lawyer on why the “major questions doctrine” doesn’t apply here, given the sweeping nature of Trump’s #tariffs. “The justification is being used for power to impose tariffs on any product from any country in any amount, for any length of time,” he says. #Trump used #IEEPA in April to announce a baseline tariff on products from every foreign country, & significantly higher tariffs on exports from several dozen nations.
Sauer provoked an objection from Justice Sonia #Sotomayor after arguing that #Trump’s #tariffs were not designed to raise revenue for the federal government.
Trump has repeatedly boasted about how much money his import taxes are brining into the Treasury.
“You want to say tariffs are not taxes, but they are,” Sotomayor said.
#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy
Chief Justice John #Roberts jumped in fairly quickly, questioning Sauer about whether he’s relying too much on an older decision on a different part of the emergency-powers law at the center of the case.
Roberts was a law clerk at the time to the justice who wrote the 1981 opinion, William Rehnquist.
#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy
Justice Brett M. #Kavanaugh, a key vote, is very focused on President Nixon’s imposition of a 10% tariff in 1971. The #tariffs were part of the “Nixon shock” measures aimed at addressing #trade deficits & combatting #inflation. “What’s the significance of the Nixon example & precedent here?” Justice Kavanaugh asked. “Because I think figuring that out is real important to deciding this case correctly.”
#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy
per NYT, Peter Harrell, a visiting scholar at Georgetown’s Institute for International Economic Law, said that although presidents have steadily broadened the use of #IEEPA over the years, “it was definitely intended to constrain authority.” In return, the #Trump admin is arguing that that change was only intended to add process constraints, not to add substantive constraints, on the president’s actions.
#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy
Justice #Jackson raises a key issue: That the emergency #law in question, #IEEPA, was actually passed by #Congress to constrain the president’s authority & reform an earlier law, the Trading With the Enemy Act, or #TWEA, that Nixon had used to issue global #tariffs.
#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy
“The fact that they raise revenue is only incidental,” Sauer says of the tariffs. I’m not sure Trump would agree: #Trump has often emphasized the vast amounts of revenue being raised by his #tariffs & their ability to offset #tax cuts.
Justice #Sotomayor is also acknowledging an argument we’ve heard frequently in months of lower court arguments — that the economic emergency law that Trump is using to impose tariffs does not explicitly contain the word tariff.
Justice #Kagan says #Congress, not the president, had the power to #tax & regulate foreign commerce.
Justice #Sotomayor is pressing the government on the fact that #tariffs are a form of #taxation, which rests in the hands of lawmakers to enact. “It’s a congressional power, not a presidential power, to tax,” she said.
Sauer argues that what is at issue in this case is not the “power to tax,” an authority given to Congress, but the ability to regulate foreign powers.
#ClarenceThomas first asks about the ‘major questions’ doctrine
The conservative majority blocked President Joe #Biden’s $500 billion student loan forgiveness plan & other of his administration’s initiatives by ruling that #Congress must speak clearly on questions of “vast economic & political significance.”
It’s not clear whether the justices will apply the same principle in the #tariffs case, but lower courts did.
Sauer says it doesn’t apply to foreign affairs issues.
Arguments are finally getting underway after a late start.
First up is Solicitor General D. John Sauer, Trump’s top Supreme Court lawyer, arguing for the #Trump admin.
The court has allotted 80 minutes for arguments, but they will almost certainly extend well into early afternoon.
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The Register: UK judge delivers a ‘damp squib’ in Getty AI training case, no clear precedent set . “London’s High Court has dismissed the major portions of Getty Images’ lawsuit against generative AI firm Stability AI for training its image-generation model on copyrighted images, which some legal experts say could weaken intellectual property laws. However, others saw daylight for trademark and […]
#Senate confirms #Trump's pick to join liberal-majority US appeals court
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Trump's first and only nominee to the Boston-based federal appeals court, which until now had been largely composed of judges appointed by Democrats and has frequently blocked his policy initiatives.
#law
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/senate-confirms-trumps-pick-join-liberal-majority-us-appeals-court-2025-11-04/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement
As #California #voters went to vote Tues on a measure that could block Trump’s agenda, state ofcls ridiculed his unsubstantiated claims that voting in the largely #Democratic state is “rigged.”
“The Unconstitutional Redistricting Vote in California is a GIANT SCAM in that the entire process, in particular the Voting itself, is RIGGED,” #Trump posted without irony mins after polling stations opened.
Trump provided NO EVIDENCE for his allegations.
#law #VoterSuppression
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-11-04/la-me-prop-50-trump-scam
Cuz, you know, their word is bond [/s]
Trump admin hints #furloughed workers may not be #paid after #shutdown
Agencies are sending messages indicating that workers who are on the job will be paid when the government reopens — with no mention of those on furlough, despite a 2019 #law protecting their wages.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/11/04/shutdown-back-pay-federal-workers/
Any effort to remove #Maduro would place the admin under further scrutiny over whatever legal rationale it does offer, given the hazy mix of reasons it has presented so far for confronting Maduro. Among them are drug trafficking, the need for US access to #oil & #Trump’s [BS] claims that #Venezuela’s govt released prisoners into the #US.
While the *guidance* is still being drafted, some #Trump admin officials expect it will argue that #Maduro & his top security officials are central figures in the Cartel de los Soles, which the admin has designated as a “narcoterrorist” group. The #DOJ is expected to contend that designation makes Maduro a “legitimate” target despite longstanding #US legal prohibitions on assassinating national leaders. [this is carrying Trump’s water a bit much]
#Trump aides have asked the #DOJ for additional guidance that could provide a legal basis for any #military action beyond the current campaign of striking boats that the admin says are trafficking narcotics, without providing evidence. Such *guidance* could include a [questionably] legal rationale for targeting #Maduro without creating the need for congressional authorization for the use of military force, much less a declaration of #war. [not so sure about that NYT]
Her car was left behind in the middle of the road, her coffee still in the cup holder, & her keys in plain view.
#DHS later released a statement claiming that Figueroa was at fault, saying “she crashed into an unmarked government vehicle & violently resisted arrest, injuring two officers.”
[Despite DHS claims,] Figueroa was released the same day a few hours later WITHOUT CHARGES.
#Trump #Chicago #law #DueProcess #UseOfForce #PoliceBrutality #Constitution #CivilRights #ICE #Gestapo
Seconds after the crash, agents abruptly stopped their vehicle & exited w/ weapons in hand pointing at Figueroa, a #US #citizen. Agents then forcibly opened her door & pulled her out of the vehicle by her legs without identifying themselves, presenting a warrant or informing her that she was under arrest. As bystanders yelled, “You hit her! We have it on video!” agents ignored them & forced Figueroa into a red minivan & drove away.
People yelled as vehicles honked their horn — a sign now used to alert neighbors that #immigration federal agents are in the area — & witnesses said federal agents had arrested several landscape workers presumed to be in the country without authorization.
As Figueroa tried to drive through the 1600 block of W Hubbard St on Friday, Oct 10, an unmarked vehicle driven by federal agents collided w/Figueroa’s as it tried to speed away from a crowd, multiple videos reviewed by the Tribune show.
#Chicago woman dragged out of her car after colliding with #ICE demands accountability
Dayanne Figueroa was on her way to get coffee before heading to work when she encountered a chaotic scene in West Town: heavily #armed, #masked federal agents making arrests on a residential street.
#Trump #law #DueProcess #ExcessiveForce #UseOfForce #PoliceBrutality #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #AbuseOfPower #fascism #MafiaState #Gestapo #Sturmabteilung #WhiteSupremacy
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/03/chicago-woman-collision-ice-accountability/
For the second time in a little over a week, #ICE officers reportedly shot someone in #LosAngeles, #California. This time, it was a #US #citizen who ICE officers shot from behind while he was driving a car, acc/to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
The victim was a 25-yr-old named Carlos Jimenez, who is a father of 3.
#Trump #law #DueProcess #ExcessiveForce #UseOfForce #PoliceBrutality #Constitution #CivilRights #HumanRights #AbuseOfPower #Gestapo #WhiteSupremacy
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-11-02/lawyers-say-ice-shot-us-citizen-from-behind-as-he-stopped-to-warn-them-of-childre
#ICE Shot a #US #Citizen Trying to Help #Kids
According to his lawyer, #immigration officers shot Carlos Jimenez after he warned them that #children would soon gather for the bus where they had pulled over a vehicle.
#Trump #law #DueProcess #ExcessiveForce #UseOfForce #PoliceBrutality #Constitution #RightToProtest #CivilRights #HumanRights #AbuseOfPower #authoritarianism #fascism #Tyranny #MafiaState #MilitaryState #ICE #CBP #Gestapo #Sturmabteilung #WhiteSupremacy
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/11/kids-bus-us-citizen-shot-by-ice-lawyer-report-los-angeles/
…Lacking Democratic consent on its choices, the admin can only legally install prosecutors in a temporary capacity for 120 days — the “3 or 4 months” #Trump mentioned. But the post must then be vacated & filled by a selection by district court judges if no nominee can be confirmed.
The issue looms particularly large in Virginia, where #LindseyHalligan, the #USattorney hand-picked by Trump, is prosecuting #JamesComey, the former #FBI director, and the #NYAG, #LetitiaJames.
The cause of #Trump’s anger is the #Senate blue slip tradition, which gives home-state senators virtual veto power over whether certain #justice-related nominees can advance, forcing the White House to seek their consent. While its influence has been diluted on appeals court judges, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chair of the #Judiciary Cmte, has kept the practice in place for district court judges, federal prosecutors & US marshals—personnel matters where senators like to play a role…
“You know, I have 10 U.S. attorneys who are phenomenal, phenomenal — a Harvard or Yale, a this, a that — all top,” #Trump said during last month’s White House luncheon with #Senate #Republicans as he went on an extended rant about the prosecutorial blockage. “And the problem is they’re not going to ever be confirmed, I guess. I put them in, they’ll be there for three or four months, whatever it is, & then they have to leave.”
The ability to #filibuster also amplifies the #influence of each senator, allowing any one member of the body to threaten to slow or block #legislation if his or her demands aren’t met, a regular #Senate ritual.
The fight over federal prosecutors [#USattorneys] gets much less attention than the fate of the famed filibuster, but it is clearly vexing #Trump & presenting real complications for the White House as it seeks to pursue criminal charges against Trump’s perceived enemies.
In reality, the #filibuster also serves #Republicans as a handy check on a president who sometimes takes stances that carry substantial risk or defy party orthodoxy, an excuse for #Senate Republicans to avoid doing things they don’t see as sound #policy or #politics without infuriating #Trump. Eliminating the filibuster would also be a huge blow to the credibility of Thune, who has pledged to preserve it.
“There just simply aren’t the votes to get rid of the Senate’s 60-vote threshold,” Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and the majority leader, said on Monday on Fox News Radio. He said that neutering the #filibuster would ultimately make #Republicans responsible for #legislation #Democrats would push through.
A chief fear of wary #Republicans is that if they were to jettison the #filibuster, #Democrats would likewise be able to get everything they wanted approved when they returned to power. Republicans don’t seem ready to cave just yet to #Trump, whom they see as shortsighted….
When it comes to preserving the legislative #filibuster & controlling the confirmation of #USattorneys, #Republicans are so far holding their ground in the face of intensifying White House pressure to jettison #Senate practices that #Trump sees as holding him back. In both cases, the rules empower senators on a personal & political level in a way that they are reluctant to surrender — even to a demanding president whom they rarely challenge.
#Republicans in #Congress have been remarkably compliant this year as #Trump has usurped their constitutional pre-eminence on fundamental matters such as #spending, #tariffs & #WarPowers. But in 2 areas, #GOP senators have put up firm resistance that is increasingly frustrating Trump.
#Republicans Hold Firm on #Filibuster & Prosecutor Veto Power, for Now
#Trump is showing mounting frustration at his inability to win confirmation of #USattorneys in blue states or break the filibuster's grip on the #Senate. The #GOP has been uncharacteristically uncooperative.
#law #shutdown #Congress
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/us/politics/trump-republicans-filibuster.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Former special counsel #JackSmith wanted to file a motion to have #FarRight #Trump appointed US District Judge #AileenCannon disqualified from overseeing the Mar-a-Lago #ClassifiedDocuments case against Trump, according to a new book by Carol D. Leonnig & Aaron C. Davis.
But he hit a brick wall & felt unable to escalate the situation.
The book, "#Injustice," details the #criminal cases against Trump.
#UK anti-Islam activist #TommyRobinson was cleared on Tuesday of committing an offense under counterterrorism laws by refusing to give police his phone PIN, thanking #billionaire #ElonMusk who he said funded his defense.
Robinson, 42, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has become a flag-bearer for some #BritishNationalists & one of Britain's most high-profile anti-#immigration campaigners.
#Islamophobia #extremism #WhiteChristianNationalism #law
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-anti-islam-activist-tommy-robinson-thanks-musk-after-being-cleared-terrorism-2025-11-04/
Their efforts are grounded in a controversial theory of social progress: That a select group of #elites are the right people to move the country forward, a position #ChrisBuskirk argues is not in defiance of MAGA’s populism. Putting industry leaders in positions of #power is a hallmark of #Trump’s presidency — from #Commerce Secy #HowardLutnick to #tech titan #ElonMusk — & Buskirk says the #MAGA movement has energized a new generation of stewards for the country.
The pair — along with admin officials & friends — recently launched #ExecutiveBranch, a $500,000-a-head membership club for #Trump-supporting business leaders to hobnob in DC.
These organizations have a collective ambition, according to #ChrisBuskirk, which is to give the businesspeople he sees as vital to the country’s future a role shaping #government & lasting #political #power.
#law #Constitution #democracy #technocracy #plutocracy #aristocracy #oligarchy #USpol
The #RockbridgeNetwork has assembled a database with deep profiles of potential #voters through nonpolitical memberships, including outdoors groups & churches, acc/to a person directly familiar with the organization.
#ChrisBuskirk’s ties to #Trump’s orbit go beyond Rockbridge. #1789Capital, the #VC firm he co-founded with investor #OmeedMalik, focuses on what the partners call “patriotic capitalism” & now counts Donald Trump Jr. as a partner.
With significant funding from #tech leaders, #RockbridgeNetwork aims to equip #MAGA to outlive #Trump. The group has no website or public-facing entity, but it has assembled pollsters, data crunchers, online advertisers & even a documentary film arm. It is gearing up to deploy its arsenal in the 2026 #midterms & in the 2028 presidential contest, when many Rockbridge members hope #JDVance will be the nominee.
#law #Constitution #democracy #technocracy #plutocracy #aristocracy #oligarchy #USpol
Today, #ChrisBuskirk helms the #RockbridgeNetwork, a secretive organization birthed out of the weekend gathering that has established itself as one of the most influential forces in #GOP #politics. Political strategists credit the close-knit network of businessmen-cum-donors with helping fuel #Trump’s reelection last year & propelling one of its own — #JDVance — into the vice presidency.
#law #Constitution #democracy #technocracy #plutocracy #aristocracy #oligarchy #USpol