It was the second time in a week that the Court of International Trade heard a lawsuit challenging whether Trump’s use of a “national emergency” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act was legally justified to support the tariffs.
The IEEPA is a 1977 law allowing a US president to impose economic measures during a national emergency to address an “unusual and extraordinary threat”.
Wednesday’s lawsuit before a three-judge panel, led by the state of Oregon and joined by 11 other states, had a broader scope than the previous legal challenge before the court brought by a group of small businesses.
The Trump administration argued that the president’s emergency declarations were not subject to judicial review because the matter is a “political question” and only the US Congress could intervene.
