[CTC] Supreme Court sets hearing on tariff suits for Nov. 5

[Arthur Stamoulis]

*Supreme Court sets hearing on tariff suits for Nov. 5*

*By David LaRoss <https://insidetrade.com/authors/David-LaRoss>  /
September 18, 2025 at 12:10 PM*


The Supreme Court will hold oral argument in the combined legal challenges
to President Trump’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs
the morning of Nov. 5, solidifying its earlier plan to hear the suits
sometime in the first week of November.


The court on Sept. 18 *posted a new hearing calendar for November*
<https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_calendars/MonthlyArgumentCalNovember2025.pdf>
showing
the two consolidated tariff cases -- known as Learning Resources v. Trump
and Trump v. V.O.S. Selections -- as the only ones the justices will hear
on Nov. 5. Argument is slated to begin at 10 a.m. and to run for an hour,
though Supreme Court hearings regularly run long.


*Both cases test* <https://insidetrade.com/node/184207> whether Trump can
lawfully use IEEPA as the basis for his sweeping, frequently changing
tariffs on China, Mexico, Canada and U.S. trading partners generally. The
administration has argued that a provision in the law allowing presidents
to “regulate . . . importation” of foreign-owned goods during a declared
emergency authorizes tariffs, but litigants including individual importers,
small companies and Democratic state attorneys general say that
interpretation stretches IEEPA beyond what Congress intended and
potentially violates constitutional limits on executive power.


So far, three courts have agreed with the challengers: The Court of
International Trade and then the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit in the V.O.S. suit, and the U.S. District Court for DC in Learning
Resources. The DC district court held that IEEPA does not allow tariffs at
all, while CIT and the Federal Circuit said that even if it does, the
“magnitude” of Trump’s duties go beyond what the law could constitutionally
permit.


“Reading the phrase ‘regulate . . . importation’ to include imposing these
tariffs is ‘a wafer-thin reed on which to rest such sweeping power,’” the
Federal Circuit’s majority wrote.


The Justice Department is set to file its opening brief in the combined
cases on Sept. 19, with plaintiffs due to respond on Oct. 20. A final
decision could arrive at any point after the Nov. 5 argument concludes; the
justices often take several months to craft their rulings, especially in
politically significant cases, but the tariff suits have moved on a greatly
accelerated schedule. -- *David LaRoss* (*dlaross at iwpnews.com*
<dlaross at iwpnews.com>)
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