#partisancourt — Public Fediverse posts

Candidates pay discounted rates for TV time around an #election under federal #law, & in March the #FCC’s Media Bureau said certain party-coordinated ads are entitled to those prices as well.

Four #Democrats, including Sen #JonOssoff of Georgia & former Sen #SherrodBrown of Ohio, challenged the finding in court. They won a victory from a divided panel of the US 4th Circuit Court of appeals.

#law #ElectionLaw #ElectionInterference #SCOTUS #ActivistCourt #PartisanCourt

#Katyal responded to #Kavanaugh that #Algonquin was one import. Not #tariffs broadly applied to numerous countries across the board.

“Algonquin was expressly a trade statute,” Katyal said. “It’s everything this case isn’t.”

He said the Algonquin decision had a reference to #duties in a specific provision & an extended, clear legislative history describing the powers given to a president.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Katyal argued that the president has other authority to impose #tariffs, without relying on a national emergency.

For example, he cited Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to combat trade deficits by imposing tariffs of up to 15% for up to 150 days without congressional approval.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Katyal said that the government has argued in this case that #refunds could be issued later if #tariffs are overturned.

The government opposed a preliminary injunction in this case by saying “oh, don’t worry, we’ll give the refunds later,” he said.

It’s unclear how much would be refunded or who would get money back if the tariffs are halted.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

“I wonder if you ever thought that your legacy as a constitutional advocate would be the man who revived the nondelegation argument?” #Alito asked of #Katyal, who served in the Obama admin.

Katyal was quick to respond. “Heck yes, Justice Alito. I think Justice #Gorsuch nailed it on the head when saying that when you’re dealing with a statute that is this open-ended – unlike anything we’ve ever seen – to give the President this power.”

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #Trump #economy

#ClarenceThomas asked #Katyal if his argument wouldn’t also apply to #embargoes. Katyal said it did not, since #tariffs are ways of regulating revenue.

“Embargoes stop the shipment, tariffs start the tax bill. ...Tariffs are constitutionally special because our founders feared revenue raising, unlike embargoes,” Katyal said. “You know, there was no ‘Boston Embargo Party,’ but there was certainly a Boston Tea Party.”

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

Chief Justice #Roberts says the admin’s #tariffs program “implicates very directly the president’s foreign affairs power.”

#Katyal pointed specifically to the example of #Switzerland, a #US #ally with whom we have a trade surplus — NOT a deficit, & #Trump’s imposed tariffs currently sit at 39%. “That is just not something any president has ever had the power to do in our history,” he said.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy

#Katyal noted what appeared to be skepticism of the #tariffs from Justices Amy Coney #Barrett & Neil M. #Gorsuch, asserting that upholding Trump’s #tariffs would be “a one-way ratchet” of delegating power from #Congress to the presidency, adding “we will never get this power back if the government wins this case.”

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump #economy

#Katyal started off his presentation to the justices by arguing that their decision “comes down to common sense.” He argued that “it’s simply implausible” that when #Congress enacted #IEEPA, it “handed the president the power to overhaul the entire tariff system & the American #economy in the process, allowing him to set & reset tariffs on any & every product from any & every country, at any & all times.”

#SCOTUS #law #tariffs #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #Trump

Sauer presented the government’s case for more than an hour. Now up is Neal K. #Katyal, the lawyer for the businesses who have challenged #Trump’s #tariffs. The court has given him 20 minutes to present his argument.

#SCOTUS #law #PartisanCourt #ActivistCourt #AbuseOfPower #economy