The Supreme Court will hear arguments on November 5 on whether President Trump can invoke emergency powers to impose sweeping global tariffs, a week after agreeing to fast-track the administration’s appeal.
To accommodate the tariff case, the Supreme Court rescheduled two others—one on civil procedure to Nov. 4 and another on IQ scores in death penalty cases to a later date. Such cases are usually heard the following year, but the justices agreed to fast-track them.
The administration called Trump’s tariffs his “most significant economic and foreign-policy initiative.” The Court will review appeals on whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which Trump invoked, grants that authority.
Passed in 1977, IEEPA lets presidents impose economic sanctions during emergencies. Trump was the first to use it for tariffs, citing fentanyl in February to tax Canada, China, and Mexico, then declaring a trade-deficit emergency in April to impose a 10% global baseline tariff, calling it “Liberation Day.”
Last month, the Federal Circuit ruled 7-4 that Trump’s tariffs weren’t authorized under IEEPA, in a case brought by small businesses and Democratic-led states. The Supreme Court also agreed to hear a related challenge from other businesses that had won in a D.C. district court but sought a definitive ruling.
President Trump’s tariff policy will remain in effect until the Supreme Court issues its ruling.
